Iranian authorities claim that Qatar is denying access to the emirate to an expert team to investigate the circumstances of the case and the fate of the Iranian pilots currently on Qatari soil. This was stated by a spokesman for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC, the elite unit of the Iranian armed forces).
“Qatar refuses to allow an Iranian expert and an investigative committee to investigate the fate of the Iranian pilots“, a IRGC spokesman was quoted as saying by Al Hadath TV. He claims that Iranian experts “have been waiting for several months for permission to enter Qatar to conduct... an investigation into the fate of the pilots“.
The CGIR believes that “Qatar should allow access to the expert team instead of denying reports of the detention of the Iranian pilots“.
On August 15, Mohammad Bagherzadeh, head of the Missing Persons Committee of the Iranian Armed Forces, announced that three Iranian Su-24 pilots had been captured by Qatari forces in March after their plane crashed during a combat mission. He said that the pilots had been held captive for six months and that the Qatari government had refused to allow them to meet with their families. Bagherzadeh called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the pilots and facilitate their release.