CAIRO, 16 August 2026 (TON): In a latest statement Iran said Qatar was holding three of its pilots who had been missing since March this year, which Qatar denied.
As per the Iranian claimed details, Qatar's armed forces captured three pilots who went missing in March when their jets were downed, the Missing Persons Committee of Iran's Armed Forces General Staff said. Qatar, however, denied it.
Qatar on 2 March claimed that its Air Force shot down two Iranian bombers when Tehran carried out attacks on US military bases in the opening days of the war.
On Saturday Iran confirmed in a that she has taken up case at the International Committee of the Red Cross statement alleging that Qatar had not allowed the pilots to meet or communicate with families or Iranian officials handling their cases. Iran asked the International Committee of the Red Cross president for help. The letter said a fourth pilot was killed while on the mission “targeting an enemy military base in Qatar."
A spokesperson with Qatar's foreign ministry, Majed Al Ansari, later denied the claims and said that the pilots had been shot down and that Qatar's search and rescue teams found the remains of one. He said Iran was invited in April to visit and be briefed on those efforts, but there was no response from Iranian side.