‘They were being held on water’: Iran says detained pilots in ‘poor physical condition’
Qatar denied last week that it was holding Iranian pilots. (File Photo)A senior Iranian military figure is pressing Qatar to relocate detained Iranian pilots from their current holding site on the water to a hospital facility on dry land, Reuters reported, citing Iran’s Tasnim news agency.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, who heads Iran’s Armed Forces committee tasked with locating missing personnel, described the pilots’ health as deteriorating, noting they remain confined at a waterborne location in what he called “poor physical condition.”
According to Reuters, Baqerzadeh argued that the current detention site was inadequate for the pilots’ needs and appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross to dispatch an air ambulance to Qatar, aiming to speed up the transfer of sick and wounded detainees back to Iranian soil.
What has Qatar said about the detained pilots?
Qatar denied last week that it was holding Iranian pilots, saying they had violated Qatari airspace earlier this year and had not responded to attempts to make contact. Reuters reported that Doha said it had been in touch with Iran to arrange the handover of one pilot’s remains and had invited Tehran to review details of its search and rescue operations, but had received no response.
Foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari said Qatari rescue teams had searched thoroughly for three missing aviators, had already coordinated the handover of one pilot’s remains to Iran, and had invited an Iranian team in April to be briefed on the search an offer Tehran never took up.
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How has Iran responded to Qatar’s invitation?
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, Reuters reported.
