Middle East Crisis Iran War

Iran offers bounty on American soldiers

Iran's military is offering a reward of the equivalent of 285,000 kronor for each killed or captured American soldier. This is what army chief Amir Hatami told the state news agency Irna, AFP reports. Women will receive double the amount.

No American soldiers have been in Iran since the rescue of a downed American pilot and a weapons systems officer in March. Since the US began the war with Iran at the end of February, 17 of the country's soldiers have been killed, all outside Iran.

Iran sharpens tone against Qatar over missing pilots

Iran's military is demanding access to three fighter pilots it claims are being held captive by Qatar, several media outlets report. According to Qatar, one of the pilots is dead – and the other two are missing.

The three Iranian pilots participated in an attack on the US military base Al Udeid in March. Their bomber was shot down by Qatar when they did not respond to calls, according to Reuters.

Qatar says it has made several unsuccessful contact attempts to share information about the search effort with Iran and return the remains of the dead pilot, Majid Kazemi. Iran has previously also declared him dead, but now accuses Qatar of holding all three captive and isolated from the outside world, according to AFP.

Iran is now demanding to send investigators from the Iranian air force to investigate the disappearances, and is urging the Red Cross to intervene so that the pilots can communicate with their families and with the country's diplomats, according to Al Jazeera. 

Reports of health crisis denied “No, no, no”

The White House is fighting back after reports that sailors on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln are living in poor conditions and have suffered from mental stress.

President Donald Trump denies that relatives are worried, and does not think that the nine-month tour of duty has been too long.

– No, no, no, not long enough at all, he says according to AFP.

Defense Minister Peter Hegseth believes that the reporting is “completely incorrect” and Navy Minister Hung Cao says that the media is “trying to paint our soldiers as victims”.

Regarding reports that several sailors have attempted suicide, Cao says that a couple of cases of mental illness “have been treated without fatalities”.