Iranian official urges Qatar to move detained pilots onshore for treatment

An Iranian military official has appealed to Qatar to move detained Iranian pilots to a hospital on land, saying they are currently being held offshore and are in poor health, Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

Mohammad Baqerzadeh, who heads the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons under Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said the pilots’ current holding location was unsuitable for their condition. He asked the International Committee of the Red Cross to arrange an air ambulance to Qatar to speed up the return of the injured and unwell detainees to Iran.

Qatar had denied last week that it was holding any Iranian pilots, maintaining that the airmen had breached Qatari airspace earlier this year and had not responded to attempts made to contact them. Doha said it had since reached out to Tehran to coordinate the return of one pilot’s remains and had offered Iran the opportunity to review details of the search and rescue operation, but said it had not received a response.

A foreign ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday that the invitation remained open for an Iranian delegation to visit over the pilots issue.

In his latest statement, Baqerzadeh welcomed Qatar’s decision to receive a team of Iranian experts and called on Doha to provide them with the necessary cooperation.

Baqerzadeh had previously said an Iranian Air Force expert and fact-finding team had been waiting for months to enter Qatar and accused Qatari officials of repeatedly delaying the investigation.