Official: Qatar’s Claims on Iranian Pilots ‘Not Convincing’
TEHRAN -- A senior Iranian military commander has rejected Qatar’s denial of holding three Iranian pilots as unconvincing, saying a second expert team is being dispatched after Doha’s claims failed to satisfy Tehran’s fact-finders.
Brigadier General Muhammad Bagherzadeh, commander of the Missing in Action Search Committee at the General Staff of Iran’s Armed Forces, said Thursday that the first expert team’s findings have raised serious doubts about Qatar’s account.
“The dispatch of a second expert team means the first team reached facts in its investigations, and the statements and claims of Qatari officials, at least for our expert team, were not convincing and did not persuade them,” Bagherzadeh said in remarks reported by Entekhab.
The three pilots — Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian — were taken alive into Qatari custody after their Su-24 fighter jets were hit by enemy defenses on March 2, 2026, during a combat mission against a U.S. military base in Qatar. A fourth pilot, Majid Kazemi, was martyred, and his body was later retrieved.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al Ansari, has claimed that Qatari search and rescue teams “carried out their duties to the fullest”.
Bagherzadeh said the first team’s chief, a pilot who has examined at least 100 aviation accidents, found Qatari claims unacceptable and reported findings to Iranian authorities. He added that Doha has repeatedly obstructed and delayed the team’s entry despite agreeing to a second visit.
The commander also said he personally followed up the issue with the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Tehran, who accepted to pursue the matter more seriously. The ICRC is following up through its Qatar office and via Geneva.
“We have conveyed our expert information and findings to the Qatari side, and we have told them that this issue will not remain hidden from the Islamic Republic of Iran’s view,” Bagherzadeh said.
The remarks follow Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni’s recent visit to Qatar, after which he said a technical delegation would return to continue discussions.