Iran accuses Qatar of thwarting probe into fate of pilots

TEHRAN: Iran accused Qatar on Sunday (Aug 16) of thwarting efforts to work out what happened to three pilots Tehran says were captured during the Middle East war, though the Gulf state has denied detaining them.

The Islamic republic had previously reported one pilot killed and others missing after a sortie to Qatar in March, but had not claimed at the time that any of them had been captured.

"A team of experts from the Iranian Air Force has been waiting for several months to travel to Qatar to conduct an on-site investigation," said General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of the Iranian armed forces.

"However, due to persistent delays by Qatari authorities, the return of our brave pilots to their homeland remains impossible," he added, according to the Tasnim news agency.

He called on Doha to authorise the team to travel to Qatar.

Bagherzadeh had accused Qatar on Saturday of having captured three Iranian pilots who were carrying out an operation against the United States' Al Udeid air base in early March and demanded their release.

Qatar denied holding the pilots and said an invitation had been sent to Iran "to be briefed on the details of the search & rescue operations in April, but the Iranian side has yet to respond".

Last month, Iran's military said it had retrieved the body of pilot Majid Kazemi, who was killed during the attack on Al Udeid Air Base.

The largest US military base in the Middle East, it hosts forward elements of US Central Command, as well as its air and special operations forces.

In early March, Qatar's defence ministry said it had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers.

It was not immediately clear whether they were the same aircraft referred to by Iran, as Qatar and other countries across the region faced retaliatory attacks following the US and Israeli strikes that triggered the war.

It was the first time a Gulf country had reported shooting down an Iranian aircraft since the war broke out on Feb 28.

The Middle East war broke out when the United States and Israel attacked Iran which retaliated with attacks across the region.

Diplomatic efforts led to an April ceasefire that ended nearly 40 days of fighting, followed by the signing of a framework for peace talks in June that later collapsed.

Iran and the United States have since traded fire sporadically, with fighting mainly centred in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, which took part in mediation efforts to end the fighting, came under fire after the truce broke down, reporting attacks on its territory and at least one Qatari tanker transiting the strait.