Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says the country assumes the missing Su-24 pilots were captured as long as their fate remains unclear, adding that Iran is using all available channels to determine their status.
Speaking at his weekly press conference on Monday, Esmaeil Baghaei said Iran maintains regular contacts with Qatar and has conveyed its concerns and considerations to the Qatari side regarding reports that the pilots were captured by the Arab country.
“The demand for clarification of the status of the four brave Iranian pilots who were heading to carry out a defensive operation to target the source of US aggression is serious, and we have been pursuing the issue since the day we became aware of it,” he said.
Baghaei said he was with Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi when they learned about the pilots’ situation during the first days of the war, adding that efforts to determine their whereabouts were immediately put on the agenda.
He said Iran made its first correspondence with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on March 16 and that the Iranian Embassy had also begun following up on the matter from those early days.
“As long as their status remains unclear, it is assumed that they have been captured, and we are using all available capacities to determine the status of the pilots,” Baghaei said.
“I clearly state that from the very first days, pursuing the status of these four pilots has been on the agenda. They were heading to carry out a defensive operation,” he added.
In direct response to unprovoked US-Israeli aggression against Iran which began on February 28, two IRIAF Su-24 bombers successfully penetrated advanced enemy radar networks and sophisticated air defense systems to bombard the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a primary hub for US military forces in West Asia.
During their return journey over the Persian Gulf, the Iranian aircraft were targeted and struck by enemy air defense systems.
Despite the heavy anti-aircraft fire, the mission was successfully executed, delivering a powerful message of deterrence to the aggressors.
The Iranian Army confirmed the martyrdom of Second Brigadier General pilot Majid Kazemi, one of the pilots of an Iranian Air Force Su-24 fighter jet, following specialized forensic examinations and DNA testing.
On Saturday, Commander of the Missing-in-Action Search Committee of Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff said the three other pilots — Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Emran Behrouzian — were captured alive by Qatari forces.
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