All six crew members confirmed dead in US military refuelling plane crash in Iraq
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.
Updated at 10.27 EDT
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Israel has issued evacuation orders for much of southern Lebanon, instructing residents within 25 miles of the border between the two countries to head north. The order covers major Lebanese cities and dozens of villages.
The Guardian’s William Christou reports from Nabatieh, a city in south Lebanon hit by Israeli strikes.
‘Ghost town’: Lebanon city deserted amid Israeli airstrikes – video dispatchShare
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian also attended the al-Quds Day march in Tehran on Friday, waving and smiling at the other demonstrators at the annual rally in support of Palestinian rights.
Iranian state media released photos of Iran’s senior leadership at the rally in an apparent show of strength. Earlier Friday, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said Iran’s leadership was “desperate and hiding”. “They’ve gone underground. Cowering. That’s what rats do,” Hegseth said.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the al-Quds Day march in Tehran, Iran on 13 March 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesIranian President Masoud Pezeshkian attends the al-Quds Day march in Tehran, Iran on 13 March 2026. Photograph: Anadolu/Getty ImagesBlack smoke rises after an airstrike as Iranians take part in the al-Quds rally in Tehran on 13 March 2026. Photograph: AFP/Getty ImagesShareAll six crew members confirmed dead in US military refuelling plane crash in Iraq
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.
Updated at 10.27 EDT
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi posted video on X of Iranians reacting to an airstrike in Tehran during the annual al-Quds Day march for Palestinian rights.
He said their reaction – the video shows them yelling and gesturing defiantly toward the smoke rising in the distance rather than running away – is “nightmare for aggressors”.
“Iranians will ALWAYS stand firm and NEVER cower before cowardly attacks,” Araghchi said.
Proud and honored to have accompanied the Strong and Resilient People of Iran to mark International Quds Day.
Iranians will ALWAYS stand firm and NEVER cower before cowardly attacks.
Video: Reaction of demonstrators when Tehran was bombed today is nightmare for aggressors. pic.twitter.com/0dtcHXMlTE
— Seyed Abbas Araghchi (@araghchi) March 13, 2026
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Daniel Boffey
Oil tankers carrying Russian oil immediately rerouted to India when the US lifted sanctions, according to a senior risk analyst at Lloyd’s List Intelligence, the London-based shipping intelligence publisher.
“We instantaneously saw ships, shadow fleet tankers, sanctioned ones, nonsanctioned ones, making U turns, diverting course,” said senior risk analyst Bridget Diakun. “They were initially going towards Malaysia or to China, and they completely turned around and started heading for India. So India is at this point, able to outbid the buyers in China.”
Diakun said the lifting of sanctions is “a godsend for Russia’s shadow fleet”.
“They’re in a position where now Russia can make a lot of money because it’s given a pass,” Diakun said.
Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that the decision to lift sanctions against Russia was not going to help end the war in Ukraine, now in its fourth year, Reuters reports.
“This single easing by the US could provide Russia with around $10 billion for the war. It certainly does not help (to achieve) peace,” Zelenskyy, who is visiting Paris, said during a joint press conference with French president Emmanuel Macron.
Air defences in the United Arab Emirates have intercepted 27 drones and seven ballistic missiles today, the UAE defence ministry said.
Since the start of the conflict, UAE air defences have tallied 285 ballistic missiles, 15 cruise missiles and 1567 drones heading into their territory.
Updated at 09.16 EDT
Israeli attack on bridge ‘is only the beginning’, says defence minister
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.
During the press conference, Hegseth said there is no clear evidence that Iran has placed new mines in the strait of Hormuz.
The assessment by Hegseth contrasts with news reports earlier this week suggesting Iran had deployed about a dozen mines in the strait, the conduit for a fifth of the world’s oil.
Asked about the possibility of mines in the strait, Hegseth said:
double quotation markWe’ve heard them talk about it just like you’ve reported recklessly and wildly about it. But … we have no clear evidence of that.
Updated at 09.21 EDT
Hegseth says success in the conflict is defined by “reaching the military objectives that we’ve laid out”.
He says the US has internal metrics that look at those objectives that are presented to president Trump, who decides how long he wants the campaign to continue.
The Pentagon chief is now drawing parallels with Bush and Obama, who he says were constantly expanding their mission objectives.
Asked about Tucker Carlson’s comments about the war being “disgusting”, he says the US will “execute on the mission, whatever people say about this”.
That’s all from the press conference.
Updated at 11.03 EDT
Asked about the air strike on a girls’ school that left 175 people, mostly children, dead, Hegseth says he will not let “reporting lead us … the truth matters”.
He says Centcom has designated an officer to investigate what happened “from outside Centcom”.
Hegseth adds that the fact of the probe taking place “doesn’t mean anything more than that” and reemphasises that the US does not target civilians, which he says is in contrast to Iran.
double quotation markWe don’t target, Iran does.
We will investigate, we will get to the truth and we will share it when we have it.
Hegseth says news reports that Iran could launch a drone attack on California was “bad reporting”.
He says:
double quotation markThere’s a lot of thing Iran has said it could for a long time, including engaging their proxies and getting them involved in the fight which they haven’t been able to do.
So, we’re watching that very closely.
Updated at 08.33 EDT
Hegseth asked about when the strait of Hormuz might become operational again
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”.
Updated at 08.32 EDT
Caine says US artillery forces made history by firing the first precision-strike missiles ever used in combat “reaching deep into enemy territory”.
He says he spoke to the crew he fired the first precision-strike missile, including one 20-year-old man who had only been in the army for six months and the unit for two.
“I asked him to walk me through a fire mission, not just what they do but what they feel,” he says.
“One of them just looked at me and said ‘it’s awesome’.”
General Dan Caine, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, starts by appealing for people to keep the airmen who crashed in Iraq “in your thoughts”.
He says more updates will be available throughout the day as the rescue mission continues.
Caine says Iranian combat power has continued to decline as a result of strikes. He says the US has hit 6,000 targets so far.
The Iranian navy has been rendered “ineffective”, he says. However, Iran still has the capability to harm “friendly forces” and commercial shipping, he says.
The US is prioritising targeting Iran’s mine-laying enterprise, he adds.
ShareHegseth: Mojtaba Khamenei is wounded and ‘likely disfigured’
Hegseth turns to Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei’s first public statement yesterday and questions its legitimacy.
The defence secretary says:
double quotation markWe 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:
double quotation markI 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.
Updated at 08.17 EDT
US defence secretary Pete Hegseth claims Iran’s military capability has been dramatically degraded
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:
double quotation markTheir 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.
Updated at 08.21 EDT
Today so far
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.
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!”
The Israeli military has launched a new campaign across Iran, the IDF said, with Iranian state TV reporting explosions heard across Tehran. The IDF 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.
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.
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.
Two people were killed in Oman on Friday after air defences intercepted a drone over the Al Awahi industrial area, according to state media. The drone was one of two that were shot by air defences on Friday, but the second one did not cause any injuries.
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.
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.”
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.