Iran’s Ahmadinejad: Former Qatar emir paid ransom for IRGC soldiers in Syria in 2012

Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has stated that the former Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani paid $57 million in ransom to release 57 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) soldiers who had been captured by an armed group in Syria in 2012.

Speaking to a gathering of supporters in Bushehr, Ahmadinejad announced that the incident took place at the beginning of the Syrian crisis in 2012, when an armed opposition group ambushed a bus carrying IRGC soldiers in southern Damascus, capturing all soldiers on board.

According to the former Iranian politician, after both Iran and the Syrian government failed to release the Iranian prisoners, Iran contacted Qatari officials who established contact with the group, paying the ransom on behalf of Tehran.

Ahmadinejad added that the emir of Qatar refused to accept a $57 million cheque sent by Tehran in return for the ransom, confirming that he did it for the sake of the friendship between the two peoples.

READ: Qatar distributes $100 to 100,000 poor families in Gaza