Iranian authorities on Saturday called for the release of three pilots they said were captured in Qatar amid the US-Israel war with Iran.

“Three Iranian pilots were captured alive by Qatari forces after their Su-24 fighter jets crashed during the war,” said General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of the Iranian armed forces, Fars news agency reported.

“Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Behraveshian have been held by Qatari forces for six months,” he said in a letter addressed to the International Committee of the Red Cross.

In the letter, Bagherzadeh called for their release, saying the pilots had not been allowed to meet or contact their families.

Last month, Iran’s army said it had retrieved the body of Iranian pilot Majid Kazemi, who was killed during an attack on Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar in early March.

Iran had previously said the other pilots were missing but news of their alleged capture was not publicized at the time. Saturday’s announcement marked the first time in the war that Iran acknowledged a regional country is holding its fighters.

The Al Udeid base in Qatar includes forward components of US Central Command (CENTCOM), as well the command’s air forces and special operations forces.

It is the largest US base in the region.

Also Saturday, Iranian state media reported that flights at the port city of Bandar Abbas resumed on Saturday after repeated interruptions during the war.

Kazem Tavassoli, director general of airports in Hormozgan province, said “scheduled flights at Bandar Abbas International Airport on high-traffic domestic routes resumed today,” according to the IRNA state news agency.

The reopening comes “following limited flights in recent days,” Tavassoli said, adding that passengers can now buy tickets for the Tehran-Bandar Abbas, Mashhad-Bandar Abbas and Bandar Abbas-Isfahan routes, in both directions.

The airport “handled 35 to 40 domestic and international flights per day” before the war, Tavassoli said.

The airport has been repeatedly closed since the war began on February 28, when the United States and Israel........

© The Times of Israel