TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry said on Monday it will consider three missing pilots to be prisoners in Qatar, despite Doha’s denials, until it clarifies their fate.

Tehran has said the Iranians went missing while carrying out an operation against the United States’ Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar on March 2, shortly after the outbreak of the Middle East war.

On Saturday, Iranian authorities alleged for the first time that the pilots had been captured in Qatar, after previously saying one pilot had been killed and three others were missing following their sortie.

“It is imperative to obtain clarification on their situation,” foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei told a weekly press briefing.

“Until the pilots’ situation is clarified, we consider them prisoners and will spare no effort to shed light on their fate.”

Qatar denies holding the pilots and said an invitation had been sent to Iran “to be briefed on the details of the search and rescue operations in April, but the Iranian side has yet to respond.”

“We categorically deny the claims circulating regarding the detention of Iranian pilots & are surprised by these misleading statements at this particular time, amid the ongoing diplomatic efforts & initiatives aimed at de-escalating tensions in the region,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari in a post on X.

Al-Ansari said contact was established with the pilots after a breach of Qatari airspace, and after receiving no response, “the necessary measures were taken to defend our territory in accordance with international law.”

Search and rescue teams later recovered the remains of one pilot, and communications were made with Iranian authorities for the repatriation of his body.

Last month, Iran’s military said it had retrieved the body of pilot Majid Kazemi, who was killed during the attack on Al-Udeid, the largest US military base in the Middle East.

The base hosts forward elements of US Central Command, as well as US air and special operations forces.

In early March, Qatar’s defense ministry said it had shot down two Iranian Sukhoi Su-24 bombers but it was not immediately clear whether they were the same aircraft referred to by Iran.

Qatar and other countries across the region faced retaliatory attacks following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran that triggered the war on February 28.

Diplomatic efforts led to an April ceasefire that ended nearly 40 days of fighting, followed by the signing of a framework for peace talks in June that later collapsed.

Iran and the United States have since traded occasional fire, with strikes mainly centered in southern Iran and around the Strait of Hormuz.

Qatar, which took part in mediation efforts to end the fighting, came under fire after the truce broke down, reporting attacks on its territory and on at least one Qatari tanker transiting the strait.

Iran has also separately accused Kuwait of withholding information about the fate of four Iranians held there and warned over what he described as similar delays in providing information.

Iran said in May that the four were affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards and had been conducting a maritime patrol before entering Kuwaiti territorial waters because of a navigation disruption.

Kuwait has said the four Iranians were suspected of planning hostile actions against the country.