Qatar dismisses Iranian claims that pilots were taken captive

Qatari authorities have categorically denied Iranian claims that military pilots whose aircraft entered the emirate’s airspace in March were taken captive, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Mohammed Al-Ansari said.

“We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots & are surprised by these misleading statements at this particular time, amid the ongoing diplomatic efforts & initiatives aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region,” the diplomat stressed.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the crews had been warned about the violation of Qatar’s borders. “After following the rules of engagement & attempting to communicate with them without receiving a response, the necessary measures were taken to defend our territory in accordance with international law,” Al-Ansari explained.

He also said search-and-rescue teams had recovered the remains of one of the pilots. Doha contacted Tehran to coordinate the transfer of the body in accordance with international humanitarian law and invited an Iranian delegation in April to review details of the search operation. However, “the Iranian side has yet to respond to the invitation.”

The Qatari denial comes in response to Iranian claims that three of its military pilots—Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian—were captured alive by Qatari forces after ejecting from two Su-24 fighter jets. 

The aircraft were hit during a combat mission on March 2, 2026, against what Tehran described as an enemy military base in Qatar, in the early days of the broader US-Israeli conflict with Iran.

A fourth pilot, Majid Kazemi, was killed in the same operation, with his remains later returned to Iran and buried in Shiraz. 

General Seyed Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of Iran’s missing persons search committee, publicly detailed the claims in a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, alleging the three survivors have been held incommunicado for about six months without family contact or access by Iranian officials, in violation of international humanitarian law, and urging intervention for their release. 

By Jeyhun Aghazada