🔶 Islamic Republic of Iran reports the capture of three Iranian pilots in Qatar

According to Iranian domestic media, Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Missing Persons Search Committee of the General Staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Armed Forces, said that three fighter pilots whose aircraft crashed during the war in the early part of this year were taken into custody in Qatar.

Baqerzadeh, in a letter to Marianna Sporliaric, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, asked for follow-up on their situation and for providing the conditions for their rapid release.

The letter states that two Su-24 fighter jets, on 11 Esfand 1404 (March 2, 2026), departed on a mission to the U.S. base in Qatar, but “upon returning, due to damage from enemy air defenses, the pilots eject.”

According to him, one of the four pilots of these fighter jets was killed, and the other three, named “Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtiyan and Omran Bavashiayan,” were captured alive by Qatari forces.