Iran is pressing Qatar to open its doors to an Iranian fact-finding mission, as a dispute deepens over the fate of pilots Tehran says were seized by Qatari forces.
An Iranian military official said Qatar should allow an Iranian team into the country to investigate what happened to the pilots, Iranian media reported.
Doha rejects the allegation that it is holding any Iranian pilots. Qatari authorities said yesterday that search and rescue crews recovered the remains of one pilot after Iranian aircraft violated Qatari airspace in March and failed to respond to attempts to contact them.
Qatar said it had reached out to Iran to coordinate the handover of the remains and had invited Tehran to examine the details of its search and rescue operations, but said it had not received any reply.
Mohammad Baqerzadeh, commander of the Committee for the Search for Missing Persons of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff, said an Iranian Air Force expert and investigative team had been waiting for months for permission to enter Qatar, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.
Mr Baqerzadeh accused Qatari officials of repeatedly stalling the inquiry and blocking the pilots’ return to Iran. He also urged the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently pursue the matter.
In the same remarks, Mr Baqerzadeh said Kuwait was also withholding information on the fate of four Iranians held there.
In May, Iran said the four were affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and had been conducting a maritime patrol when a navigation disruption led them into Kuwaiti territorial waters.
Kuwait has said the four were suspected of planning hostile actions against the country.
