Qatar denies detaining Iranian pilots, says one pilot's remains found

The families of three Iranian pilots missing since March are still without answers after Qatar denied holding the men, even as it confirmed recovering the remains of a fourth pilot who died in the same operation. Iran's Armed Forces General Staff had said Saturday that Qatar was holding the three pilots and had denied them visits or communication with their families or Iranian officials, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The Qatari government said it had found the remains of one pilot, matching an earlier Iranian account that Brigadier General Majid Kazemi was killed during a March 2 strike on Al Udeid Air Base and that his body would be returned to Iran.

The Iranian army confirmed Kazemi's death through DNA testing, according to Mehr News and Iran International. Iranian officials described the mission as a strike on a US military base in Qatar. Qatar's confirmation that it recovered remains of one pilot aligns with that account, but the fate of the other three pilots remains unresolved.

Iranian Army spokesman Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia had previously said Qatar "claimed it has no information" about the three pilots, and urged Doha to cooperate under international conventions. "Our follow-up efforts are continuing, but the Qatari side has so far claimed it has no information and has not clarified the status of our three dear pilots," he said in a televised interview, according to Mehr News. The Iranian committee handling the case has asked the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross for help in contacting the pilots and learning about their condition, according to the Las Vegas Sun.

The statement said a fourth pilot was killed while on the mission "targeting an enemy military base in Qatar." The United Arab Emirates accused Iran of attacking one of its vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Iran-backed Houthis struck a Red Sea port in Yemen, according to the Las Vegas Sun. The exchange over the pilots is one of several claims and counterclaims between Iran and Gulf states in recent days.