A US Air Drive Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker aerial-refuelling plane flies over Tel Aviv on March 4, 2026.
Jack Guez | Afp | Getty Pictures
The U.S. army mentioned Thursday {that a} KC-135 army refueling aircraft was misplaced whereas flying over Iraq in an incident that was “not because of hostile or enemy fireplace.”
The U.S. Central Command mentioned in an announcement that the incident concerned two plane and occurred in pleasant airspace. One of many plane went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely, it added.
“The incident occurred in pleasant airspace throughout Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing, the the U.S. Central Command mentioned, referring to the warfare in opposition to Iran, which led to retaliatory strikes by Tehran throughout the Center East.
It was unclear what number of U.S. service members had been on board the KC-135 refueling plane that crashed.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a gaggle of militias within the nation backed by Iran, claimed accountability for the downing of the U.S. plane in an announcement posted on its Telegram channel.
That is the fourth reported plane loss because the Iran warfare began, after three F-15 fighters had been shot down by pleasant fireplace from Kuwait’s air defenses.
The KC-135, which price $39.6 million in 1998 in line with the U.S. Air Drive, is often used to refuel different plane in mid-air.
U.S. shall be ‘sorry’
The plane loss comes as Iran’s safety chief, Ali Larijani, mentioned Tehran would make the U.S. “sorry” for beginning the warfare in Iran.
“Trump says he’s searching for a speedy victory. Whereas beginning a warfare is simple, it can’t be received with a couple of tweets,” Larijani mentioned in a publish on X early Friday.
His assertion adopted remarks by Iran’s new supreme chief, Mojtaba Khamenei, that the Strait of Hormuz maritime passage ought to stay closed as a “instrument to strain the enemy.”
Khamenei additionally mentioned all U.S. army bases within the Center East ought to shut instantly and warned that “these bases shall be attacked,” in televised feedback translated by Reuters.
Regardless of U.S. President Donald Trump claiming that “we received” in Iran and that the warfare will finish “very quickly,” extra international ships had been struck within the Persian Gulf on Thursday.
Iran additionally warned that oil costs might climb to $200 a barrel, accusing the U.S. of destabilising regional safety, Ebrahim Zolfaqari, spokesperson for Iran’s army command, mentioned Wednesday, in line with Reuters.
— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.
