Iran, Qatar discuss missing Iranian pilots as interior ministers meet in Doha

Iran and Qatar discussed missing Iranian pilots during talks between their interior ministers in Doha, Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported Tuesday.

Iranian Interior Minister Eskandar Momeni said after meeting his Qatari counterpart that negotiations were held regarding the pilots and that the two sides agreed a technical delegation would hold further meetings on the issue.

Momeni said the talks also covered bilateral issues, including organized crime, coast guard cooperation, security matters and efforts to combat drug trafficking.

The Iranian minister arrived in Doha on Monday for talks with Qatari officials.

Iran says that three pilots were detained by Qatari forces after their military aircraft were downed in Qatar's airspace in March.

Doha has denied the claim, saying its search-and-rescue teams recovered the remains of one Iranian pilot and handed them over to Tehran.

Doha has said there is no evidence that the other pilots were detained and has invited an Iranian technical team to review details of the search-and-rescue operations.