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Qatar denies detaining Iranian pilots, says it found remains of one

By Thomson Reuters Aug 15, 2026 | 2:28 PM

Aug 15 (Reuters) – Qatar denied on Saturday that it ​was holding ‌Iranian pilots, saying they had violated Qatari airspace earlier ‌this ​year and ⁠had failed ⁠to respond to attempts to contact them.

A Qatari foreign ​ministry spokesperson said on X ⁠that search ⁠and rescue ​teams later found the ​remains of one ‌of the pilots and that it had contacted ⁠Iran to coordinate a handover.

The spokesperson said Tehran ⁠had ‌yet to ⁠respond to ​an ‌invitation to review ​details of ⁠its operations.

(Reporting by Hatem Maher and Ahmed Tolba; Editing by Alexander ​Smith)