Description; The US military said on Friday that all six crew members aboard a US military refueling plane that crashed in western Iraq have been confirmed dead. A U.S. military refueling plane crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, in an incident the military said another plane was involved but was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.The deaths add to the seven US soldiers who have already been killed as part of US operations against Iran that began on Feburary 28. "The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the damage to the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire," a statement from US Central Command said.A US official told Reuters that the second plane involved in the crash, which landed safely, was also a military refueling plan.The United States has deployed a large number of aircraft to the Middle East to participate in operations against Iran, and this incident highlights not only the risks of operations but also the dangers of refueling aircraft in mid air.The KC-135, built by Boeing in the 1950s and early 1960s, has served as the backbone of the U.S. military's aerial refueling fleet and is critical for allowing aircraft to perform missions without landing.The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed armed factions, claimed responsibility for shooting down a US military refueling plane.Reuters reported on Tuesday that 150 American soldiers have been injured in the US-Israeli war against Iran. The news of the accident comes on the same day that two American sailors were injured in a non-combat fire aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford.The first seven American soldiers were killed when a drone attacked a US military installation in Port Shuaiba, Kuwait. President Donald Trump and other senior officials have warned that the conflict with Iran will result in more American soldiers being killed as Tehran retaliates against American and Israeli attacks.Earlier, US Secretary of War Pat Hegseth said that the US military would bomb Iran more heavily on Friday than on any other day in the war so far. Speaking at a press conference, he said that today will in fact be the most attacks that the US has ever carried out on the skies of Iran and Tehran.Meanwhile, President Donald Trump said the US is "going to hit Iran very hard next week," shortly after issuing a 30-day partial waiver for Russian oil purchases, hoping to lower prices due to the US-Israeli war on Iran.Prices are rising on Trump's comments about the potential duration of the war, which prompted Iran to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, which carries a fifth of the world's oil.Trump has previously said the war is "over" and has also promised to guarantee the safety of ships in the strait. In an interview with Fox News aired Friday, Trump said the United States would protect shipping there "if we need to.Benchmark Brent crude fell about 1 percent to around $99.50 in European trading, up about 40 percent since the start of the war, with European and Asian shares under pressure."In the interview, he added that the United States would take ships through the Strait of Hormuz if necessary.Asked about helping oil tankers pass through the vital shipping strait, Trump said: “If necessary, we will do that. But, you know, hopefully things will be very good. We’ll see what happens.” He gave no other details.On Thursday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told Sky News in an interview that the US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, would escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz when it was militarily possible. "I believe that as soon as it is militarily possible, the US Navy will be with an international coalition escorting ships," Besant said.The plan to take the ships would move forward when the US "has complete control of the skies and ... (Iran's) rebuilding capabilities for missiles are completely undermined," he said.US and Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran's subsequent response have heightened regional tensions and paralyzed shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, disrupting vital Middle East oil and gas flows and driving up energy prices.In a bid to destabilise the global economy, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says it will block oil shipments from the Gulf until US and Israeli attacks stop. "In fact, there are Iranian tankers coming in now, I believe some Chinese-flagged tankers have passed through. So we know they didn't mine the strait," Besant said.According to Axios, Trump claimed in the G7 call that Iran was "going to arm itself."Trump told G7 leaders in a virtual meeting on Wednesday that Iran was "going to surrender," Axios reported on Friday, citing three officials from G7 countries briefed on the contents of the call. According to the report, boasting about the results of "Operation Epic Fury" on a G7 call on Wednesday morning, Trump told allies that they had "got rid of a cancer that was threatening us all."Trump said that "nobody knows who the leader is, so there's no one who can declare surrender," Axios reported.The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.Trump on Friday derided Iran's leaders as "deviant rogues" and said it would be a great honor for him to kill them as the war in the Middle East nears two weeks with heavy exchanges of drone and missile strikes across the region.Iran claims missile and drone attack on US aircraft carrier, causing 'major damage.''In a statement late Friday night, Iran's Revolutionary Guard said it targeted the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln with missiles and drones, claiming the attack caused "major damage" to the ship, according to an Al Jazeera post on X.The Revolutionary Guards added that the aircraft carrier is now "retreating towards the United States" after the alleged attack.However, a spokesman for US Central Command told Al Jazeera that "the Revolutionary Guards' claims of targeting the Lincoln aircraft carrier are false," and denied any damage or operational impact to the ship.At least one killed in explosion during pro-government rally in Tehran: state media. At least one person was killed in an explosion near an annual pro-government rally in Tehran on Friday to support the Palestinian cause, Iran's state-run IRNA news agency said.No further details were given, but the Israeli military had earlier called on people to evacuate two areas near the rally site in downtown Tehran on the 14th day of the war that has engulfed the Middle East.Turkey says it shot down Iran's third ballistic missileThe Turkish Defense Ministry said on Friday that a ballistic missile fired from Iran was shot down by NATO defenses in Turkish airspace, the third such incident in just a week..The ballistic missile launched from Iran and entering Turkish airspace was neutralized by NATO air and missile defense assets deployed in the eastern Mediterranean," a ministry statement said.The Israeli military has warned residents of two areas of Tehran of impending attacks.The Israeli army warned on Friday that it would attack two areas of the Iranian capital Tehran, Villa and Moneria, and asked residents to evacuate.“In the coming hours, the IDF will operate to strike military infrastructure belonging to the Iranian regime in these areas, as it has done throughout Iran in recent days. Dear citizens, for your safety and well-being, we urge you to immediately evacuate the marked area,” the military posted on its Persian-language account X, attaching maps of the affected neighborhood. Earlier on Thursday, Iran's new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first comments, read out by a television presenter, vowing to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed and calling on neighboring countries to close US bases on their soil or risk being targeted by Iran."I assure everyone that we will not hesitate to avenge the blood of your martyrs," he said. Iranian officials have said that they were lightly wounded in the initial attacks. Leaders from Iran, Israel and the United States spoke out against it all and vowed to fight on as the Middle East war neared the two-week mark on Friday, killing thousands, affecting the lives of millions and shaking financial markets.Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held his first news conference since the start of US and Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28, taking questions via video link and issuing a veiled threat to assassinate Khamenei and defending the military strike."I will not go into detail about the steps we are taking. We are creating the perfect conditions for the overthrow of the government, but I will not deny that I cannot tell you with absolute certainty that the people of Iran will overthrow the government - a government is overthrown from within," Netanyahu said. "But we can certainly help, and we are helping."Iran vowed to keep the Strait of Hormuz closed in Mojtaba Khamenei's first statement.President Donald Trump said on social media on Friday that the United States is completely destroying the terrorist regime of Iran. "We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time - see what happens to these scoundrels today," Trump said.The Israel Defense Forces said on Friday that its air force struck more than 200 targets in western and central Iran yesterday, including ballistic missile launchers, air defense systems and weapons production sites, as part of the operation, dubbed Operation Roar of the Lion.Overnight, Iran launched a barrage of missiles toward Israel, undermining American and Israeli claims to have eliminated most of Iran's long-range weapons stockpile.Medics in northern Israel said they had taken 58 people to hospital, most of whom suffered minor injuries from broken glass.The Emirates Media Office said early Friday that debris from the successful interception also caused minor damage to the facade of a building in central Dubai, adding that no one was injured. The office did not specify the exact location of the incident. And in Saudi Arabia, the Defense Ministry said two drones were intercepted in the east.Oil prices fall as IEA weighs record emergency reserves.The prospect of the most severe disruptions to global energy supplies ever could endure sent oil prices soaring nearly 9% to $100 a barrel LCOc1 on Thursday, helping to drag down U.S. stocks.The S&P 500 posted its biggest three-day percentage drop in a month, and shares in Asia were also under pressure on Friday.In an effort to stabilize global energy markets, the United States on Thursday issued a 30-day license for countries to buy Russian oil and petroleum products currently stranded at sea.“The temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary setback that will result in a large benefit to our nation and economy in the long term,” Besant said in the statement, echoing Trump’s initial comments. America's political outcome.Trump, who has already declared that the US and Israel "won" the war, said the US stands to make substantial money from a rise in oil prices due to supply problems linked to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of global oil normally passes.“The United States is by far the largest oil producer in the world, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money.” He said on social media that preventing Iran from having nuclear weapons was far more important.Israel and the United States have said Iran needs to be "prevented from acquiring nuclear weapons" for decades. Trump's comments angered opposition Democrats, who accused the Republican president of caring little about the war's impact on average Americans and demanded more information about civilian casualties, particularly the double-tap strike that killed dozens of schoolchildren at an Iranian girls' school.The Trump administration has not provided any public estimates of the expected cost or duration of the war, which is unpopular with the American public, or any strategy for Iran after the fighting stops. The president and top aides have also given conflicting reasons for starting the fight.The death toll has surpassed 2,000, mostly in Iran. Nearly 700 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Lebanon, where Israel has targeted central Beirut and ordered residents to evacuate parts of southern Lebanon as it steps up its offensive against the Hezbollah group.French President Emmanuel Macron said one soldier was killed and several others were injured in an attack in northern Iraq, with an Italian base also targeted in the area.Earlier this week, two tankers were set on fire in the Iraqi port of Basra after being attacked by Iranian boats carrying explosives. Other ships have been targeted in the Gulf near the Strait of Hormuz, some approaching the Strait after repeated warnings from Iran, and buildings in cities in other Gulf countries have been hit.Iran has tightened security.Inside Iran, residents said security forces were increasing their presence to maintain peace amid ongoing US-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure.Security forces are everywhere, more than before. People are afraid to come out, but supermarkets are open," said Majan, a 35-year-old teacher, by phone from Tehran.Israel and the United States have urged Iranians to "rise up and overthrow their religious rulers." Many Iranians mourned the death of the Supreme Leader, while in places like New York, other Iranians and Iranians celebrated the death of the Ayatollah and the attacks on Iran. There is no sign of organized dissent during the attack on the country. Iran's message is that its strategy now is to inflict a prolonged economic shock to force Trump to back down. A spokesman for Iran's military command said on Wednesday that the world should prepare for oil prices to reach $200 a barrel.U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Thursday that he didn't expect that to happen, but he didn't rule it out completely. "I would say it's unlikely, but we're focused on the military operation and resolving any issues," Wright told CNN.The American refueling craft has crashed. In Iraq, the US Central Command said one of its refueling planes was making rescue efforts after it crashed in an incident involving another plane but that it was not the result of hostile or friendly fire. The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iranian-backed armed factions, has claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane. In a brief statement released Thursday, CENTCOM confirmed the loss of a KC-135 Stratotanker during the ongoing military operation known as Operation Epic Fury. According to CENTCOM, two aircraft were involved, one of which crashed while the other landed safely. There was no evidence of hostile or friendly fire involved in the incident. Rescue and recovery operations are currently underway, CENTCOM said, without providing further details, personnel or the cause of the crash.CENTCOM added that the loss of the aircraft occurred entirely under non-combat circumstances and is under investigation.The KC-135 Stratotanker provides the primary aerial refueling capability for the U.S. Air Force and has excelled in this role for more than 60 years. This asset enhances the Air Force’s ability to fulfill its primary mission of global reach. It also provides aerial refueling support to Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and allied aircraft.
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