Majed al-Ansari says the Iranian planes ‘violated Qatar’s sovereignty’ and had been handled in accordance with the regulation.
Revealed On 18 Aug 2026
Qatar’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs spokesman has categorically denied Iran’s accusation of holding prisoner three navy pilots whose planes crashed within the early days of the struggle, calling the claims “utterly baseless, false and illogical”.
Throughout a information convention on Tuesday, Majed al-Ansari reiterated that Qatar handed over the stays of one of many pilots after they had been discovered final April to an Iranian delegation.
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The feedback come after Iranian officers publicly claimed that the pilots had been secretly detained after being captured, demanding that Qatar launch them.
In a letter to the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross, Iranian Basic Mohammad Bagherzadeh mentioned three pilots – Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian – survived after their warplanes crashed in March and had been captured alive, based on Iran’s Fars information company.
Bagherzadeh mentioned the boys have been held for six months, minimize off from communication, and known as for worldwide humanitarian intervention.
Throughout his weekly press briefing, al-Ansari mentioned the planes had been focused as a result of they “violated Qatar’s sovereignty and the town of Doha, and that they had been handled based on the regulation”.
He expressed shock on the claims raised by Tehran, stressing that Doha had invited the Iranian aspect to ship a technical group to overview the search operations, but it surely didn’t reply. He mentioned the Iranian request for Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) involvement within the case was a “media ploy”.
Al-Ansari additionally mentioned Qatar wouldn’t hesitate to “defend its folks, its territory and its sovereignty whether it is attacked”, whereas emphasising the precedence of diplomatic motion and dialogue.
The navy engagement got here throughout an Iranian assault on the Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, which hosts US Central Command (CENTCOM) personnel. In early March, Qatar’s Ministry of Defence reported capturing down two Sukhoi Su-24 bombers, marking the primary time a Gulf nation downed Iranian plane in the course of the US-Israel struggle on Iran.
The interception got here amid the broader wave of Iranian retaliatory strikes throughout the Gulf following the outbreak of hostilities on February 28. An April ceasefire quickly halted main fight, with a June Memorandum of Understanding extending the truce and setting the stage for extra talks on ending the struggle with a negotiated settlement. However the MoU collapsed as Iran focused ships transiting within the Strait of Hormuz, with each side blaming the opposite for violating the settlement.
