Qatar Denies Holding Captive Three Iranian Pilots Shot Down Over Oil Refineries

A bitter dispute has emerged between Iran and Qatar over the fate of three Iranian pilots who were shot down while on a mission to destroy oil refineries in March. According to General Seyyed Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of Iran's Armed Forces Committee for Missing Persons, the pilots - Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian - have been held captive by Qatar for nearly six months.

The incident occurred on March 2, just days after the war began, when two Iranian Su-24MK bombers were shot down near Al Udeid military base. General Bagherzadeh claims that Qatari forces killed one of the pilots, Majid Kazemi, and captured the others.

Qatar has denied the allegations, stating that its search-and-rescue teams recovered the remains of one pilot after Iranian aircraft violated Qatari airspace in March and failed to respond to attempts to contact them. The country's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Majed Al Ansari, said Qatar had invited an Iranian delegation to visit the country in April to review the details of the search-and-rescue operations.

General Bagherzadeh has written a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, calling on them to meet with the pilots, check on their condition, and help secure their release as soon as possible. The organization has yet to comment.