All six crew members confirmed dead after US plane crash in Iraq – Middle East crisis live

All six crew members on board a US KC-135 military aerial refuelling plane that crashed in western Iraq yesterday have been confirmed dead, US Central Command said in an update Friday.

USCentcom, who had earlier today said that only four of the six had died, again made clear that the crash was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.

The identities of the members who died are being withheld their families can be notified, USCentcom said.

This plane was Ithe fourth US aircraft lost since the US and Israel began launching strikes against Iran on 28 February. Three US air force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fire incident by Kuwait air defences earlier this month. All crew members in those jets ejected safely.

Seven US troops have been killed in the conflict, while as many as 150 US troops have been wounded. The death toll in Iran is more than 1,300, according to the country’s UN ambassador.

Both Donald Trump and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have warned that the Iran war would probably claim more American lives before the conflict ends.

Israel’s military said it struck the Zrarieh Bridge spanning the Litani River early on Friday, in what appears to be the first time Israel has acknowledged attacking civilian infrastructure in Lebanon since the conflict began.

Reuters reports that Israeli defence minister Israel Katz said on Friday that the Lebanese government “will pay increasing costs through damage to infrastructure and loss of territory” until Hezbollah is disarmed.

“This is only the beginning,” Katz said.

In response, the US defence secretary says “the only thing prohibiting traffic in the strait at the moment is Iran shooting at shipping”.

He says the US “has a plan for every option” and that it will not allow the strait to remain “contested”.

On denying Iran’s ability to pursue a nuclear weapon, he says that remains a “core mission”.

Hegseth turns to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public statement yesterday and questions its legitimacy.

The defence secretary says:

We know the new so-called not-so-supreme leader is wounded and likely disfigured.

He put out a statement yesterday – a weak one actually – but there was no voice and there was no video. It was a written statement.

He called for unity… apparently killing tens of thousands of protesters is his kind o unity.

Hegseth questions why the supreme leader issued a written statement, adding:

I think you know why.

He is now taking shots at media headlines, which he says do not paint a true picture of America’s success in its war on Iran. “We’re going up, they’re going down,” he says. “President Trump holds the cards.”

Friday will see the highest number of US strikes so far against Iranian targets, Hegseth tells the briefing.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth is now speaking to the media, updating on the latest on Trump’s war on Iran.

He says the Iranian regime will only see the stars and stripes of the USA and Israel’s star of David, which he describes as “their worst nightmare”.

Hegseth says Iran’s missile volume is down 90%, while its one-way attack drones were down 95% yesterday. Iran does not have the ability to build any more weapons, he adds.

The US is “dealing with” Iran’s attacks in the strait of Hormuz and it is something that does not need to be worried about, Hegseth says, adding:

Their production lines, their military plants, their defence innovation centres; defeated. Iran’s leadership is in no better shape.

Desperate and hiding, they’ve gone underground, cowering – that’s what rats do.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres has landed in Beirut today for “a visit of solidarity with the people of Lebanon”.

During a short news conference, he calledon Hezbollah and Israel to negotiate a ceasefire “to stop the war and pave the way to find a solution to allow Lebanon to become a country independent, with sovereignty and territorial integrity respected”, adding that this “is no longer the time of armed groups. This is a time of strong states.”

“Lebanon was dragged into a war that is not a war that its people would be willing to have,” he said. “I sincerely hope that in my next visit to Lebanon, I’ll be able to visit a Lebanon in peace.”

Donald Trump spoke with Fox News this morning, where he said that the US planned on hitting Iran ‘“very hard” over the next week, according to Reuters who heard Trump’s comments.

The comment echoed an earlier post he had on Truth Social on Friday, in which he said: “Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today” in reference to the Iranian regime.

“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them,” he wrote. “What a great honor it is to do so!”

NATO air and missile defence assets have shot down an Iranian missile fired into Turkish airspace, Turkey’s ministry of defence said on Friday.

“All necessary are being taken decisively and without hesitation against any threat directed at our country’s territory and airspace,” the ministry said in its statement.

Four of six crew members on board a US KC-135 military aerial refuelling plane that crashed in western Iraq yesterday have been confirmed dead, US Central Command said Friday.

While the circumstances of the crash are still under investigation, USCentcom made clear on Friday that it was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.

The identities of the members who died are being withheld their families can be notified, USCentcom said.

This plane was Ithe fourth US aircraft lost since the US and Israel began launching strikes against Iran on 28 February. Three US air force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down in a friendly fire incident by Kuwait air defences earlier this month. All crew members in those jets ejected safely.

Seven US troops have been killed in the conflict, while as many as 150 US troops have been wounded. The death toll in Iran is more than 1,300, according to the country’s UN ambassador.

Both Donald Trump and the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, have warned that the Iran war would probably claim more American lives before the conflict ends.

China said on Friday that it will donate $200,000 to the parents of the students killed in the airstrike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Iran, AFP reports.

Donald Trump has blamed Iran for the attack in Minab that killed up to 168 people, most of them seven- to 12-year-old girls – but geolocation, videos, satellite imagery and fragments apparently recovered from the site indicate otherwise.

Beijing’s foreign ministry said the Chinese Red Cross Society will donate the $200,000 in emergency humanitarian assistance to the Iranian Red Crescent Society but also specifically for “condolences and compensations” to the parents of dead students. Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun called the strike a “severe violation” of international humanitarian law.

“Attacks on schools and children constitute a more severe violation of international humanitarian law and breach the bottom line of human conscience and morality,” Guo told reporters at a regular news briefing.

“China stands ready to continue providing necessary assistance to Iran in a humanitarian spirit to support the Iranian people through this difficult time,” he said.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps broadcasted a statement on state TV on Friday that they will respond to any new anti-regime protests with “a stronger blow” than they did during the January protests, AFP reports.

The Human Rights Activists News Agency estimated that more than 7,000 people were killed in the January protests, which Iranian authorities blamed on “terrorists” working on behalf of Israel and the United States.

Several rights organisations accused Iranian security forces of deliberately firing on demonstrators.

Donald Trump has also called for Iranians to rise up and overthrow their government.

Explosions were heard across Tehran, according to Iranian state TV, as the Israeli military said it has completed its most recent wave of strikes in Tehran, Shiraz and Ahvaz in Iran.

The IDF had earlier issued evacuation warnings for parts of Tehran and Qazvin, which is located about 144 kilometres (89 miles) northwest of the capital.

If you’re just joining our live coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran, here’s a recap of the latest key news lines. It’s now 10.30am in Tehran, 9am in Tel Aviv and Beirut and 3am in Washington DC.

• Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned that any new protests against the authorities would be met with a stronger response than in January, when several thousand people were killed.

• US Central Command said it was carrying out ongoing rescue efforts after it lost a military refuelling aircraft in “friendly airspace” in Iraq, also saying neither hostile or friendly fire were to blame. It said the incident involved two planes, the second of which landed safely. The KC-135 aircraft that crashed had at least five crew members onboard, according to a US official quoted on condition of anonymity.

• Israel launched intense strikes against Tehran and areas surrounding the Iranian capital, while fresh strikes on Beirut included one that hit a car in the coastal neighbourhood of Jnah, killing one person, according to the Lebanese health ministry. A strike in the eastern Lebanese village of Bar Elias wounded a local official with al-Jamaa al-Islamiya, or the Islamic Group, and two others, the state-run National News Agency said.

• Donald Trump declared the US was “totally destroying” Iran’s ruling regime – “militarily, economically and otherwise” – and that it was his “great honour” to be killing them.

• Sirens were heard early Friday at Turkey’s Incirlik air base, a key Nato facility in the south, state-run media reported. There was no immediate official comment.

• Explosions shook buildings in Dubai, reports said, and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the financial hub after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area.

• French president Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier had been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region – marking the first French military death of the war. Several other soldiers were wounded, he said. The French army said earlier that French soldiers had been engaged in training with Iraqi partners during the drone attack in the region.

• The pro-Iranian Ashab Alkahf group in Iraq later warned that French interests “in Iraq and the region” would be “under targeting fire” after the arrival of a French aircraft carrier.

• Benjamin Netanyahu issued a veiled threat to kill Iran’s new supreme leader, saying he “wouldn’t take out life insurance policies” on Iran’s new ayatollah or the leader of Hezbollah. The Israeli prime minister used his first press conference since the start of the war to defend his joint military assault with the US against Iran.

• The US has temporarily waived sanctions on Russian oil stranded at sea as Trump administration officials attempt to reverse a surge in prices that is causing mounting apprehension about global supplies.

• The US Navy – perhaps with an international coalition – will escort vessels through the strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said. The plan to escort ships would go ahead as soon as the US had “complete control of the skies and ... [Iran’s] rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely degraded”, he told Sky News.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards have warned that any new protests against the authorities would be met with a stronger response than in January, when several thousand people were killed.

“The evil enemy, failing to achieve its field battle goals, is once again pursuing the instillation of fear and street riots,” the Guards said in a statement broadcast on television and quoted by AFP on Friday.

The statement promised “a stronger blow than on January 8” in the event of new unrest.

Donald Trump has declared the US is “totally destroying” Iran’s ruling regime, adding it is his “great honour” to be killing them.

In a post on his Truth Social platform, the US president also lashed the New York Times, saying:

We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the Failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning.

Trump went on to say:

Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth. We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time - Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.

They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them. What a great honor it is to do so!

There has been no immediate official comment after sirens were heard early on Friday at Turkey’s Incirlik airbase, a key Nato facility where US troops are stationed near the south-eastern city of Adana.

AFP is also reporting that residents of Adana, which lies 10km (six miles) away from the base, were woken around 3.25am (0025 GMT) by sirens, which sounded for around five minutes, according to the Ekonomim business news website.

It said a red alert sounded at the base.

Several people posted mobile phone footage on social media of a glowing image flying through the sky, suggesting it could be a missile heading for the airbase, it said.

Across the city, sirens from fire engines and the security forces could be heard for a long time, it added.

The incident took place four days after Nato air defences shot down a ballistic missile in Turkish airspace that was fired from Iran – the second in five days.

Nato said it shot down the second ballistic missile fired from Iran on Monday, prompting a warning from Turkey to Tehran not to take “provocative steps”.

The announcement came shortly after Washington said it was closing down its consulate in Adana, urging all American citizens to leave south-eastern Turkey.

More now after reports of explosions in Dubai on Friday morning: thick black smoke rose over the financial hub’s skyline after what authorities described as a fire in an industrial area of the city-state.

A fire was seen in Dubai’s Al Quoz neighbourhood and bystanders gathered to watch the smoke from the blaze, the Associated Press is reporting.

Police stopped an AP journalist from going closer to the site of the fire, which was in a cul-de-sac.

The Dubai media office, which issues statements for its government, posted on X that “debris from a successful interception caused a minor incident on the façade of a building in central Dubai”.

It said there had been no injuries, though the black smoke curled over the skyline as far as the sail-shaped Burj al-Arab luxury hotel.

A pro-Iranian group in Iraq has warned that French interests “in Iraq and the region” will be “under targeting fire” after the arrival of a French aircraft carrier.

The statement on Friday by the Ashab Alkahf group on Telegram, cited by the Agence France-Presse news agency, came after French president Emmanuel Macron announced that a French soldier had been killed and several injured in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region.

Emmanuel Macron has confirmed on social media that a French soldier has been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region – marking the first French military death of the Middle East war.

The French president named him in a post on X as Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the 7th Battalion of Chasseurs Alpins from Varces, saying he “died for France”.

To his family, to his brothers in arms, I want to express all the affection and solidarity of the Nation.

Macron also said in the post that several French soldiers had been wounded. He added:

This attack against our forces engaged in the fight against Daesh [Islamic State] since 2015 is unacceptable. Their presence in Iraq is part of the strict framework of the fight against terrorism. The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.

As mentioned, France’s army said earlier that six French soldiers in training with Iraqi partners had been wounded and taken to medical centre after a drone attack in the region.

Iran started to lay mines on Thursday in the strait of Hormuz, a crucial Gulf passage for 20% of the world’s oil supply, US officials told the New York Times.

While Donald Trump has boasted that the US military has destroyed Iran’s navy, officials said Iran had started using smaller boats to place mines and enforce the closure of the strait it had imposed on its Gulf neighbours, sending oil prices sky high.

Iran’s move to close the narrow passage has long been an expected move by war planners in previous administrations but apparently took the Trump administration by surprise.

CNN reported on Thursday that senior Trump administration officials told lawmakers in recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to strikes by the US and Israel.

“Planning around preventing this exact scenario … has been a bedrock principle of US national security policy for decades,” a former US official who served in Republican and Democratic administrations told CNN. “I’m dumbfounded.”

Hello and welcome to our ongoing live coverage of the US-Israeli war on Iran and the impact it is having on the region and the global economy.

Here are the latest developments:

• US Central Command said it was carrying out rescue efforts after it lost a military refuelling aircraft in “friendly airspace” in Iraq, while saying neither hostile or friendly fire were to blame. A statement said “rescue efforts are ongoing” after an incident involving two planes, the second of which landed safely.

• The KC-135 aircraft that crashed had at least five crew members onboard, according to US official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. US central command said the crash was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.

• Israel launched fresh strikes on Tehran and Beirut.

• Donald Trump said his war on Iran was “moving along very rapidly” and “doing very well”. He called Iran “a nation of terror and hate” and said it was “paying a big price right now”.

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a veiled threat to kill Iran’s new supreme leader, saying he “wouldn’t take out life insurance policies” on Iran’s new ayatollah or the leader of Hezbollah. Using his first press conference since the start of the war to defend his joint military assault with the US against Iran, he said Israel aimed to stop Iran from moving its nuclear and ballistic projects underground, and that some Israeli strikes had killed top Iranian nuclear scientists.

• The US Navy, perhaps with an international coalition, will escort vessels through the strait of Hormuz when it is militarily possible, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent told Sky News. The plan to escort ships would go ahead as soon as the US has “complete control of the skies and ... [Iran’s] rebuilding capabilities for the missiles completely degraded,” he said.

• French president Emmanuel Macron said a French soldier had been killed in an attack in Erbil in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region – marking the first French military death of the war. Several other soldiers were wounded, he said. The French army said earlier that French soldiers had been engaged in training with Iraqi partners during the drone attack in the region.

• Trump said the Iranian national football team was “welcome” to participate at this summer’s World Cup but added: “I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety.” The US president didn’t elaborate on the nature of the risk at the Cup, which is taking place in the US, Canada and Mexico.

• A base housing UK and US forces and also in Erbil, northern Iraq, came under attack from an Iranian drone last night but there were no significant injuries and all American soldiers stationed there remained on duty, a US defence official told BBC News. No British soldiers were injured in the attack either, the broadcaster understood.

• A ballistic missile fired from Iran hit an open area in central Israel, causing no injuries, the Israeli military’s home front command said, as quoted by Haaretz.

• Saudi Arabia’s defence forces said it intercepted a drone heading towards the Shaybah oil field – an area drones have been targeting regularly this week – as well as a ballistic missile and three drones launched towards the country’s eastern region.

• Qatar’s defence ministry said it had intercepted two ballistic missiles, one cruise missile and multiple drones launched from Iran.