Iran is demanding that Qatar allow a team of experts from the Iranian Air Force to enter the country to investigate the case of the detained Iranian military pilots.
Mohammad Bakherzadeh, head of the Iranian Armed Forces Committee responsible for searching for missing servicemen, on 16 August accused Qatari officials of “repeated delays” that had prevented the fact-finding delegation from travelling to Qatar.
The dispute escalated following a public statement by Iran earlier this week that three pilots, identified as Javad Salehi, Abdulmajid Dashtyan and Omran Behraveshian, had been captured alive by Qatari forces after two Su-24 fighter-bombers crashed during a mission in March against a US military base in Qatar.
The Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs denies holding any surviving pilots, stating that search and rescue teams found the remains of one pilot and that Tehran ignored an invitation in April to review the details of the search.