A U.S. Air Force refueling aircraft tragically crashed in Iraq on Thursday, resulting in the deaths of all four crew members. The U.S. Central Command released this information on Friday morning.
The KC-135 Stratotanker was on a mission, carrying six crew members, when it went down in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury.
Authorities noted that the exact details surrounding the crash are still under investigation, but they confirmed that it was not caused by any sort of hostile or friendly fire.
Interestingly, another KC-135 aircraft was involved in the incident and was able to land safely.
It took the U.S. military about 24 hours after notifying the families to release the names of those who died in the crash.
The status of the other two crew members remains unclear at this point.
Meanwhile, a group known as the Islamic Resistance Movement of Iraq, which is an umbrella organization for Iranian-backed militants, claimed responsibility for shooting down the plane late Thursday. They stated that the action was taken “in defense of our country’s sovereignty and airspace.”
The loss of these four individuals adds to a somber total, bringing the U.S. military death toll to 11 since Operation Epic Fury was launched on February 28.
Earlier in the same month, Iran had carried out a drone strike on a U.S. military base in Kuwait, which resulted in the deaths of six Army Reserve members.
Those killed were identified as reservists Nicole Amor (39), Cody Coke (35), Declan Cody (20), Robert Marzan (54), Jeffrey O’Brien (45), and Noah Tietjens (42).
Context on Recent Escalations
The seventh servicemember, Sgt. Benjamin N. Pennington, part of the Army’s elite 1st Space Brigade, was injured during an Iranian retaliatory strike on Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Air Base and later succumbed to his injuries.
As Operation Epic Fury neared its 13th day, it followed closely on the heels of a joint U.S.-Israeli strike that had killed Iranian leader Ali Khamenei and around 40 military personnel.
In a recent communication with G7 leaders, President Trump remarked that Iran was “on the verge of surrender,” as reported by Axios.
During the same phone call, he claimed, “I beat the cancer that threatened us all,” referring perhaps metaphorically to the challenges facing the U.S. and its allies.
Following the death of Khamenei, his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, was promoted, but there has yet to be any significant indication of new leadership emerging in the wake of those recent events.
Trump also expressed skepticism about any declarations of surrender, noting that without clear leadership, such claims seem premature.
