Iranian state television claimed that an allied Iraqi group hit the tanker with a missile, killing its crew. However, the US military’s statement disputed this claim.
“Two aircraft were involved in the incident. One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely,” it said. “This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
Islamic Resistance, based in Iraq but backed by Iran, claimed responsibility for the crash, saying it had acted “in defence of our country’s sovereignty and airspace”.
The KC-135 became at least the fourth US military aircraft lost during the war with Iran after three F-15s were shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait.
Kuwaiti forces mistakenly downed the three American F-15E fighters early in the conflict, but all six crew members were able to eject.
Since the war began on Feb 28, 11 US servicemen have been killed and more than 140 injured.
French soldier killed in drone attack
On Thursday night, Emmanuel Macron announced that a French soldier was killed in a drone attack in Iraq’s Erbil region. Several others were injured.
The French president named Arnaud Frion, a chief warrant officer, as the deceased and described the attacks as “unacceptable”.
“Their presence in Iraq is part of the strict framework of the fight against terrorism,” he wrote on social media. “The war in Iran cannot justify such attacks.”
Operation Epic Fury, the name given to Donald Trump’s US-led air strikes in Iran, was “the largest regional concentration of American military firepower in a generation”, Centcom previously said.
The conflict has killed more than 1,000 people in Iran, including a reported 175 in a strike on a primary school on the first day of the war. A preliminary report suggested that the strike was mistakenly conducted by the US, using outdated targeting data.