Iran seeks release of 3 pilots it says Qatar held for 6 months
What's new: Tehran identified the men by name and said it asked the Red Cross to press for family contact and their release.
Iran pressed Qatar on Aug. 15 to free three pilots whom Tehran says were captured after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the Middle East war. Iranian armed forces General Mohammad Bagherzadeh, in a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, named the men as Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian and said Qatari forces have held them for six months without allowing contact with their families. Iran had previously described the pilots as missing and had not publicized the alleged capture. The case ties back to fighting around Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base, the region's largest US military base, during the war that began on Feb. 28 and was followed by an April ceasefire and failed June peace framework.