Asia

Home page

Asia

Iran says three missing fighter pilots have been held by Qatar for six months

15 August 2026 16:16 (UTC +04:00)

Iran says three military pilots whose Su-24 fighter jets went down during attacks in March were captured alive by Qatari forces and have been held in the country for about six months, Iran International reports.

Mohammad Bagherzadeh, commander of the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff’s committee for missing personnel, made the disclosure in a letter to the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross that was published by the IRGC-affiliated Fars news agency.

The letter identified the pilots as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian.

Bagherzadeh said Qatar had not allowed the three men to meet or speak with their families or Iranian officials seeking information about them during their detention.

Iranian officials had previously said the fate of the three pilots remained unclear and that available information about them was incomplete. They had said only that the body of another pilot, Majid Kazemi, was returned to Iran following the operation against Qatar.

Hashem Rahimi

Iran Qatar Iranian military Iranian pilots Su-24 fighter jets IRGC Iranian Armed Forces ICRC Mohammad Bagherzadeh Javad Salehi Abdolmajid Dashtian Omran Behraveshian military conflict