A U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker tanker aircraft flies over Tel Aviv on March 4, 2026.
Jack Ghez | AFP | Getty Images
The U.S. military announced Friday that all six crew members of a KC-135 military refueling plane that crashed while flying over western Iraq the day before were confirmed dead.
“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement. “However, the aircraft losses were not due to hostile or friendly fire.”
The identity of the crew member will not be released until 24 hours after next of kin has been notified, Central Command said.
Earlier, the Central Command announced that two aircraft were involved. The second plane landed safely, Central Command added.
“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury,” Central Command said Thursday, referring to the war against Iran that has led to Iranian retaliatory strikes across the Middle East.
The Islamic Resistance Movement, an Iranian-backed militia in Iraq, claimed responsibility for the downing of the US military plane in a statement posted on its Telegram channel.
This is the fourth reported aircraft loss since the Iran war began, after three F-15 jets were shot down in a friendly fire from Kuwait’s air defenses.
According to the U.S. Air Force, the KC-135 cost $39.6 million in 1998 and is typically used to refuel other aircraft in the air.
US will be ‘sorry’: Iran’s security chief
The aircraft losses came after US President Donald Trump suggested the war would not end soon.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition and plenty of time,” he said in an evening Truth Social post, calling on his supporters to “wait and see what happens” with the Iranian regime on Friday.
Meanwhile, Iranian Security Chief Ali Larijani said Iran would make the US “sorry” for starting the war in Iran.
“Trump says he wants a quick victory. It’s easy to start a war, but you can’t win it with a few tweets,” Larijani said in a post on X early Friday morning.
His statement followed comments by Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei that the Strait of Hormuz sea passage should remain closed as a “means to put pressure on the enemy.”
Khamenei also said in televised comments translated by Reuters that all US military bases in the Middle East should be closed immediately and warned that “those bases will be attacked.”
More foreign ships were attacked in the Persian Gulf on Thursday, even as President Trump claimed “we won” in Iran and insisted the war would end “soon.”
Iran has also warned that oil prices could rise to $200 a barrel, accusing the United States of destabilizing regional security, Ebrahim Zolfakari, a spokesman for Iran’s military command, said on Wednesday, according to Reuters.
—CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Holly Ellyatt contributed to this report.
