Qatar has denied that it is holding three Iranian pilots who Iran says were captured alive after their fighter jets crashed during the US-Israeli war on the Islamic Republic.
On Saturday, Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Missing Persons Search Committee of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff, stated that “Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after the Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the March attacks.” He identified the captured pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian.
Iran is urging the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to investigate the condition of the pilots. In a statement to the ICRC, Bagherzadeh said that the pilots "have been held by Qatari forces for six months" and have not been allowed to contact their families.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari denied the claims, saying Qatar is not holding any Iranian pilots.
"We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots," Ansari said in a statement posted on X. Iranian officials were making "misleading statements" at a sensitive moment for regional diplomacy, he added.
Doha acknowledged shooting down two Iranian Su-24 fighter planes in March as they attacked the Al-Udeid Air Base, the largest US military base in West Asia and home to US Central Command (CENTCOM) personnel.
Qatar said its search and rescue teams located the body of one Iranian pilot, Majid Kazemi, following the incident and had coordinated with Iranian authorities to return the body, in accordance with international humanitarian law.
Qatar added that it had invited Iranian officials to visit the country to obtain details of the search-and-rescue operation, while claiming Iran had not yet responded to the invitation.
Amid the dispute, Qatar says it remains actively engaged as a mediator between the US and Iran and is pushing for a negotiated settlement to the war.
Negotiations are at a standstill, with Iran insisting the Strait of Hormuz will remain closed until the US agrees to its terms. Meanwhile, the US Navy is continuing its blockade on Iranian ports.
"After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I'll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States," Trump hyperbolically claimed on Friday. "Essentially, that's what it is. We have the blockade. No ships get through unless we want them to."
Tehran rejected the remarks on Saturday. Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi stated that the strategic waterway "cannot be seized with a tweet, nor with an aircraft carrier." He warned that Iran would continue to enforce its closure of Hormuz until Washington accepts “the reality of defeat.”
Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which one-fifth of global oil and gas exports normally travel, in response to the unprovoked US-Israeli attack on the country in February.
Iran's closure of the strait caused a global energy supply shock that drove up gas prices, exacerbated inflation, and raised alarms about oil reserves across the world.