Qatar rejects Iran’s ‘false’ claims about missing pilots

Majed al-Ansari says the Iranian planes ‘violated Qatar’s sovereignty’ and were dealt with in accordance with the law.Published On 18 Aug 202618 Aug 2026Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman has categorically denied Iran’s accusation of holding prisoner three military pilots whose planes crashed in the early days of the war, calling the claims “completely baseless, false and illogical”.During a news conference on Tuesday, Majed al-Ansari reiterated that Qatar handed over the remains of one of the pilots after they were found last April to an Iranian delegation.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Can Trump really make Strait of Hormuz a US territory?list 2 of 3US-Iran Memorandum of Understanding expires: How and why it fell apartlist 3 of 3Trump says Iran will not make the deal he believes is necessaryend of listThe comments come after Iranian officials publicly claimed that the pilots were secretly detained after being captured, demanding that Qatar release them.In a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Iranian General Mohammad Bagherzadeh said three pilots – Javad Salehi, Abdolmajid Dashtian and Omran Behraveshian – survived after their warplan...