Four US crew members died when a military refuelling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Friday, as the conflict in the Middle East intensified with massive explosions in Tehran and new attacks across the region.
The KC-135 aerial refuelling aircraft went down killing four of the six crew members on board, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. The command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East, said “the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire” and that rescue efforts were continuing. A second plane involved in the incident landed safely.
The crash came as the US embassy in Baghdad warned of a “risk of kidnapping” of American citizens in Iraq. “Iran and Iran-aligned terrorist militia groups pose a significant threat,” the embassy said, adding that US citizens, interests and infrastructure had been attacked and that “Americans also face risk of kidnapping.”
Massive explosions shook Tehran on Friday, according to Iranian television, which said they hit not far from the site of a pro-government demonstration. Earlier, the Israeli military said it would strike two areas, Villa and Moniriyeh, and urged residents to evacuate, posting maps of affected neighbourhoods on its Persian-language account on X.
The fresh blasts came hours after unusually intense explosions rumbled the homes of AFP journalists located several kilometres apart in the north and centre of the capital.
The Israeli military said it had struck more than 200 targets in western and central Iran over the past day, including missile launchers and defence systems.
Meanwhile, Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to avenge Iranian casualties in the conflict, according to a statement read by a presenter on state television on Thursday. His father and other family members were killed in the opening strikes of the war on 28 February.
Khamenei himself was wounded in the strikes, according to some Iranian officials and state television. His whereabouts and details of his physical condition are unknown, prompting Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu to call on him to “show his face.”
A French soldier was killed in an attack in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, President Emmanuel Macron said, marking the first French military death in the war. Since the start of the conflict, multiple attacks attributed to pro-Iranian factions have targeted the region where foreign forces are based as part of an international anti-jihadist coalition.
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards warned that if protests broke out in the country, their response would be “stronger” than in January, when thousands were killed.
The conflict continued to spread across the region. Saudi forces intercepted a drone targeting Riyadh’s diplomatic quarter housing foreign embassies, the defence ministry said. The kingdom also intercepted dozens of other drones entering its airspace, with authorities reporting at least 28 drones were shot down in total.
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In Dubai, a building in the city centre was hit by debris from an intercepted attack, the government media office said, after blasts shook the Middle East financial hub. Explosions rattled buildings and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the city, AFP correspondents said.
Two people died after security forces intercepted a drone near an industrial area in northern Oman, state media said.
Israel continued striking Beirut early Friday, hitting a member of Iran-backed group Hezbollah in Lebanon’s capital, the military said. Israel threatened to expand operations and seize territory in Lebanon if the militant group did not stop its attacks.
The Israeli military said Iran fired a new barrage of missiles towards Israel, with emergency services reporting that two people were injured in the country’s north.
Sri Lanka said it would repatriate the remains of 84 Iranian sailors killed when a US submarine torpedoed their frigate off its coast on 4 March. The 32 sailors who were rescued after the sinking will remain in Sri Lanka, a spokesman for the foreign ministry said.
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