New Delhi, Aug. 16 -- Three Iranian Air Force pilots whose Su-24 bombers were intercepted and destroyed over Qatar in March have been held alive in Qatari custody for the past six months, Tehran's military said Saturday - an accusation Qatar's foreign ministry dismissed within hours as "misleading statements," sharpening a dispute that has been almost entirely invisible since the aircraft disappeared.

Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian, and Omran Beh-Raveshian. Bagherzadeh said all three were captured alive following the shootdown, and that Iran had sought their release through diplomatic channels without receiving any substantive response.

Doha's account is fundamentally different - and on one critical point, irreconcilable. Majed Al An...