Qatar returns Iranian pilot's remains but denies Tehran's claims of holding others

By Mohamed Elashi & Aadel Haleem Published on 18/08/2026 - 15:05 GMT+2 Share Comments Add Euronews on Google Share Facebook Twitter Flipboard Send Reddit Linkedin Messenger Telegram VK Bluesky Threads Whatsapp Doha said it invited Tehran to send a technical team to review its search operation but received no response, calling Iran's accusations "false" and "illogical" and suggesting they were aimed at a domestic audience. Qatar's foreign ministry also said US-Iran talks were "far" from resuming. Qatar said on Tuesday that an Iranian delegation travelled to Doha and collected the remains of one of its pilots, as Tehran continued to claim that three who went missing after their aircraft entered Qatari airspace and were shot down in March are still in the country. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT “The body was repatriated, and there was a funeral," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Dr Majed Al Ansari said in Doha, adding that Iran had not responded to Qatar’s invitation to send a technical team to review the search operation. “We have invited them to send a technical team so that they can review all the details of the search-and-rescue operation,” Al Ansari said. “Unfortunately, the Iranian side did not respond to this invitation.” An Iranian military official had earlier accused Qatar of preventing a fact-finding team from entering the country and called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene. Qatar disputed that account and said its invitation remained open. “We are here, we are open,” Al Ansari said. “There is no need for media speculation in this case.” He called Iran’s accusations “false” and “illogical” and suggested they were aimed at an audience inside the country. “If the agenda is for domestic consumption to solve local issues, we are not concerned in that case,” he said. Al Ansari's comments came a day after Tehran said it would consider the three missing pilots to be prisoners until Qatar clarified their situation. Qatar denied holding the pilots in a statement on Saturday, saying it had contacted Iran to coordinate the handover of one pilot’s remains. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said on Monday that Tehran would pursue the case through bilateral, international and legal channels. What happened to the pilots? The pilots went missing after Iranian military aircraft entered Qatari airspace on 2 March, during the early days of the war that began with the US-Israeli strikes on Iran on 28 February. Tehran said the aircraft were taking part in an operation targeting the US Al Udeid Air Base when they were shot down by Qatari forces. Al Ansari said the aircraft had entered Qatari airspace and threatened people in the country. “These planes did not come here for leisure,” he said. “They came here to threaten the citizens and residents.” Qatar tried to contact the pilots but received no response before taking action to defend its territory, he added. Qatar says its search-and-rescue teams looked for the pilots following the 2 March incident and recovered the remains of one of them. Al Ansari said the search ended on 6 April. Qatar then contacted Iran to return the remains and invited an Iranian team to review the search details. “Instead of responding positively to this invitation, we were surprised by these statements,” Al Ansari said. Qatar says it will defend its territory Al Ansari further said Doha would continue seeking a diplomatic solution to the ongoing war but would respond firmly to any future attack on the country. “Iran is not going anywhere, and we are not going anywhere,” he said. “We need to respect the sovereignty of countries, and each side should respect the other.” “Any attack against our state, we will face it firmly, and we will not hesitate to protect the people, the residents and our land.” He added that Qatar’s priority remained dialogue and a peaceful end to the crisis. Al Ansari also said there was no new progress to report in the Iran-Oman talks over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Qatar was still waiting for the two countries to reach an agreement that could help restore the ceasefire and allow wider US-Iran negotiations to resume, he said. Asked how close the parties were to reviving the wider US-Iran agreement, Al Ansari said, “I think we are far from this right now.” He said an agreement to reopen Hormuz would make it easier for wider negotiations to move forward. Go to accessibility shortcuts Share Comments Add Euronews on Google Read more Ship hit in Hormuz as Iran's top negotiator says strait to stay shut Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it impedes US-Iran Strait of Hormuz talks Iran claims 'trillion-dollar' pollution damage as Gulf oil spills spread Foreign Minister Qatar Iran Prisoner of War Doha