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| Arabia | |
| Iran's General Staff reported the capture of pilots of the downed Su-24s in Qatar | |
| 2026-08-16 | |
| Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited [Regnum] Three Iranian pilots captured in Qatar in March after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during a combat mission have still not been able to meet with diplomats and their families. This was announced on August 15 by Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Iranian Army General Staff's Missing Persons Committee. "Jawad Salehi, Abdulmajid Dashtiyan, and Omran Behruzian have been held captive by Qatari forces for six months, and the Qatari government has still not granted them permission to meet or contact their families or authorized officials handling their case," IRIB quoted Bagherzade as saying. In a letter to the Red Cross leadership, Bagherzadeh noted that Qatar's actions violate the Geneva Convention's provisions regarding the Treatment of Prisoners of War. He urged the committee to meet with the pilots as soon as possible, assess their health, and ensure conditions for their release. CNN previously reported that in March, two Iranian Su-24s approached the largest US military base in the Middle East, Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where 10,000 American troops were stationed, but were shot down by the Qatari Air Force. One of the pilots was killed.
Iran had previously said the other pilots were missing but news of their alleged capture was not publicized at the time. Saturday’s announcement marked the first time in the war that Iran said a regional country was holding its fighters. Qatar, however, denied that it was holding Iranian pilots, who it said violated Qatari airspace earlier this year and had failed to respond to attempts to contact them. A Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson said on X that search and rescue teams later found the remains of one of the pilots and that it had contacted Iran to coordinate a handover. | |
| Posted by:badanov |
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| Posted by: Lord Garth 2026-08-16 09:32 |
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| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2026-08-16 01:56 |