Foreign Relations

Iran Demands Qatar Account for Downed Pilots, Cites Geneva Convention

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Courtroom-sketch editorial illustration of a camouflaged Iranian air force fighter jet lifting off low over a desert runway with its landing gear still extended and swing wings swept forward, seen from the front left against a pale sky, with scrubby terrain and low hills behind the airstrip.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said Monday that Qatar must clarify the fate of four air force pilots who flew the March 2 strike on the US-operated Al Udeid Air Base, invoking the Third Geneva Convention on prisoners of war. Two Su-24 bombers launched from Shiraz were downed over the Persian Gulf during Iran's response to the American and Israeli campaign that began February 28. Baghaei said Tehran presumes three missing crewmen are held captive and is pressing through the Red Cross and its embassy in Doha; a fourth, Brig. Gen. Majid Kazemi, was identified dead by DNA. Qatar denies holding anyone and says it recovered one pilot's remains.

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