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Iranian authorities said Saturday that three fighter pilots shot down over Qatar during the early days of the Middle East war remain in Qatari custody, urging Doha to release them six months after their capture.
General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of Iran's armed forces identified the men as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian, saying they were taken alive after their Su-24 fighter jets went down during the conflict.
The disclosure, reported by the Fars news agency, marks the first public confirmation that the pilots survived and were detained, after Iran had previously said one pilot was killed and others were unaccounted for following a March sortie targeting Qatar.
In a letter addressed to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Bagherzadeh said the three men "have been held by Qatari forces for six months" and had not been permitted to contact or meet with their families. The letter formally called for their release.
Qatar's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The disclosure follows Iran's announcement last month that it had recovered the body of Majid Kazemi, a pilot killed during the attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in early March.
Al Udeid hosts forward elements of US Central Command, including the command's air and special operations forces, and is the largest American military installation in the region.
Qatar's defence ministry said in early March that it had shot down two Iranian Su-24 bombers, though it remains unclear whether these were the same aircraft referenced in Bagherzadeh's letter.
The strike came as Qatar and other regional states faced retaliatory attacks following US and Israeli strikes that opened the war on February 28. It was the first instance of a Gulf country reporting the downing of an Iranian aircraft since fighting began.
Diplomatic efforts produced a ceasefire in April, halting nearly 40 days of fighting, and a framework for peace talks was signed in June. That framework later collapsed, and Iran and the United States have since exchanged fire intermittently, with hostilities concentrated in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz, a critical corridor for global oil shipments.
Qatar has also come under attack since the truce broke down, reporting strikes on its territory and on at least one Qatari tanker transiting the strait. The attacks occurred even as Doha intensified efforts, alongside initial mediator Pakistan, to broker a negotiated end to the conflict.
Fighting between the United States and Iran has eased since late July, though sporadic attacks on vessels in the Hormuz strait have continued.
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