Iran Says Qatar Captured Three of Its Pilots Early in War With U.S.

JUST IN: Iran says Qatar captured three of its fighter pilots early in the war with the US, claiming the airmen have been held since March 2 when their jets were shot down.

Qatar has been holding three Iranian fighter pilots for over five months. That's the claim out of Tehran today, and it's the first we're hearing of it.

Iran says the three airmen have been in Qatari custody since March 2, early in the war with the United States, after their jets were shot down. These are file pictures of the kind of aircraft Iran still flies, ageing fleets that were always going to struggle in that fight.

What makes this awkward is where they landed. Qatar hosts Al Udeid, the biggest American air base in the region, and it has spent years playing mediator between Washington and Tehran. Now it's holding Iranian prisoners from a war it tried to stay out of. Doha, so far, has said nothing.

And notice the timing. Iran sat on this for five months, and chose to say it out loud today. Governments don't reveal captured pilots by accident. They reveal them when they want something back.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.

Source Read the original reporting at nytimes.com