Iran accuses Qatar of thwarting probe into fate of pilots

TEHRAN: Iran accused Qatar on Sunday (Aug 16) of thwarting efforts to work out what happened to three pilots Tehran says were captured during the Middle East war, though the Gulf state has denied detaining them.The Islamic republic had previously reported one pilot killed and others missing after a sortie to Qatar in March, but had not claimed at the time that any of them had been captured."A team of experts from the Iranian Air Force has been waiting for several months to travel to Qatar to conduct an on-site investigation," said General Mohammad Bagherzadeh of the Iranian armed forces."However, due to persistent delays by Qatari authorities, the return of our brave pilots to their homeland remains impossible," he added, according to the Tasnim news agency. He called on Doha to authorise