TEHRAN – The Iranian Army’s deputy legal chief said Iran considers its missing pilots alive as a matter of law, noting that Qatar has provided no credible documents confirming their deaths. He added that efforts to determine their fate are continuing through international bodies.

 He said Qatar had not submitted any evidence establishing that the Iranian pilots had been killed, stressing that the country’s international legal responsibility remained in place.

Under international law, he explained, a state responsible for holding prisoners is obligated to protect their lives and health, provide information about their whereabouts to their families, and ultimately hand them over to the competent authorities.

The deputy legal chief also identified the International Committee

 of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a neutral body responsible for pursuing the case. He said Iran had raised the issue with Qatar through official correspondence and meetings, with its demands also conveyed at the highest levels of government.
He added that the Iranian Foreign Ministry and the Armed Forces General Staff had cooperated in pursuing the case and that legal efforts through international bodies were ongoing.
The deputy legal chief stressed that, in the absence of credible evidence establishing the pilots’ fate, Iran would continue to treat them as alive for the purposes of its legal proceedings.