A United States refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, killing four of the six crew members on board, according to a statement from the US Central Command (CENTCOM) released on Friday. The remaining two crew members are still being sought as rescue operations continue in the area.

CENTCOM said the KC-135 refueling aircraft went down in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury. The command confirmed that two aircraft were involved in the incident, with one crashing in western Iraq while the other landed safely. CENTCOM emphasized that the crash was not caused by hostile action or friendly fire.

The incident adds to ongoing operational challenges for US forces in the region, though CENTCOM has not released further details about the cause of the crash or the status of the rescue efforts.

The United States has announced the permanent closure of its consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan, according to a report by The Independent on Thursday. The U.S. State Department informed Congress of the decision, stating that the move would save about 7.5 million dollars annually without harming U.S. national interests in Pakistan. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the official notice confirming the closure.

The Peshawar consulate, located near the Afghan border, had been a key U.S. diplomatic post since the 2001 military campaign in Afghanistan. The decision follows the Trump administration’s policy of downsizing federal agencies and had been under consideration for over a year. The closure is not related to the ongoing Iran war, though protests erupted across Pakistan after the conflict began on February 28, leading to temporary suspension of operations at the Karachi consulate following deadly violence.

According to the notice, closing the Peshawar mission will cost 3 million dollars, mainly for relocating armored trailers and equipment to Islamabad, Karachi, and Lahore. Consular services for the region will now be handled from the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad.

Five Bangladeshi nationals were killed in a gas cylinder explosion at a guesthouse of a local construction company on Dhigura Island in the Maldives early Thursday night. The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m., leaving two others critically injured. The injured workers were transferred to the capital, Malé, for advanced medical treatment.

According to the Bangladesh High Commission’s Labour Counsellor in the Maldives, one of the injured is being treated in the ICU while the other is in the emergency department, both in critical condition. The victims were identified as Taj Uddin Islam, Md. Sadar Ali, Md. Robin Molla, Sofiqul Islam, and Md. Nurun Nabi Sarkar. The injured are Jamal Uddin and Saddam Hossain.

A delegation from the Bangladesh High Commission has been sent to the site to assess the situation, and steps are being taken to repatriate the bodies of the deceased to their families in Bangladesh.

Iran’s state media reported that Mansoureh Khozasteh Bagherzadeh, wife of the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is alive but seriously injured. Earlier rumors had claimed she was killed alongside her husband in a joint U.S.-Israel airstrike in Tehran. The Fars news agency stated on March 12 that previous reports of her death were incorrect and resulted from misinterpretation of initial injury updates.

Several Iranian outlets had earlier reported that Bagherzadeh had died from her injuries, while semi-official Tasnim News said she was in a coma. Fars later clarified that the confusion arose from misreading early reports. Questions resurfaced about her condition after new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei made no mention of his mother’s death in his first public statement.

Ayatollah Khamenei, aged 86, was reported killed in the February 28 airstrike on his Tehran residence. Following his death, Iran launched missile attacks targeting U.S. and Israeli bases in retaliation.

An Iran-backed armed coalition known as the Islamic Resistance in Iraq has claimed responsibility for downing a US military aircraft in western Iraq. According to a live report by Al Jazeera, the group stated on its official Telegram channel that its fighters used an air defense system to target a US KC-135 refueling aircraft, which they claimed was shot down.

The US military has denied the claim. The US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on Thursday that two aircraft were involved in the incident, which occurred in 'friendly airspace.' According to CENTCOM, one aircraft crashed in western Iraq while the other landed safely in Israel. The command emphasized that the crash was not caused by enemy fire or friendly fire.

The conflicting accounts highlight ongoing tensions in the region, though no independent verification of the militia’s claim or the cause of the crash has been reported in the source.

A drone crashed in Oman’s Sohar governorate, killing two foreign nationals and injuring several others, according to the state-run Oman News Agency on Friday. The incident occurred in the Al-Awahi industrial area of Sohar. Authorities confirmed that another drone also crashed in an open area of Sohar, though no casualties were reported in that second incident.

Omani authorities have launched an investigation into both crashes to determine their causes. The report did not specify the nationalities of the victims or the purpose of the drones involved. The information was initially reported by the Oman News Agency and cited by BBC.

Further details about the circumstances of the crashes or the condition of the injured individuals have not yet been released.

U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he believes Iran’s newly appointed Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is alive but seriously injured. Khamenei has not appeared in public since the start of the war in Iran. An Iranian official earlier told Reuters that the leader had sustained only minor injuries and continued to perform his official duties.

In an interview with Fox News, recorded Thursday and aired Friday morning, Trump reiterated his view that Khamenei survived but was gravely hurt. The remarks come amid heightened tensions following the outbreak of war involving Iran, the United States, and Israel.

In his first address after assuming office, Mojtaba Khamenei declared that Iran would not retreat from its conflict with the United States and Israel. He vowed to avenge the blood of martyrs and pledged to keep the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz closed.

Sirens were heard at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base near Adana late Friday night, prompting a red alert at the NATO facility where U.S. troops are stationed. Residents of Adana, located about 10 kilometers from the base, reported being awakened around 3:25 a.m. by the alarm, which lasted approximately five minutes. Fire and security sirens were also heard across the city.

The incident occurred days after NATO air defense forces intercepted two ballistic missiles launched from Iran toward Turkey. According to Turkey’s Ministry of National Defense, one missile was destroyed by NATO’s air and missile defense units deployed in the eastern Mediterranean, and debris fell in an empty field in Gaziantep province without causing casualties.

This was the second missile interception within five days. NATO confirmed it had downed another missile from Iran earlier in the week and warned Turkey against taking retaliatory measures toward Tehran. The U.S. announced the temporary closure of its consulate in Adana and urged American citizens to leave southeastern Turkey.

Reports from Iranian and Israeli media indicate that Israel’s laser-controlled air defense system, known as ‘Iron Radiation,’ has failed to intercept recent Iranian missile attacks. According to the Israeli publication Globes, the system, which was expected to protect northern Israel and occupied Palestinian territories from new-generation Iranian missiles, proved ineffective during a major Iranian strike on Tuesday night. The report described Israel’s efforts to counter the missiles as a nightmare scenario.

Globes further criticized Israel’s so-called ‘defense revolution,’ noting that the system could not even stop drones launched by Hezbollah. Despite being heavily promoted as a breakthrough technology worth several hundred million shekels, the system failed to perform as promised. The publication suggested that the weakness of the ‘Iron Radiation’ system was a key reason behind Israel’s inability to repel the Iranian assault.

The failure raises questions about Israel’s air defense capabilities against advanced missile threats from Iran and its regional allies, as highlighted in the report.

The Trump administration is struggling to manage an escalating crisis after miscalculating Iran’s response to U.S. military aggression. According to the report, Washington officials, including Energy Minister Chris Wright, had expressed confidence that a conflict with Iran would not disrupt Middle Eastern oil supplies or global energy markets. However, Iran has now threatened attacks on commercial oil tankers in the Hormuz Strait, halting shipments from Gulf countries and driving up oil prices.

The situation has forced the U.S. government to take emergency measures, including evacuating embassy staff from the region and drafting policies to stabilize fuel prices. During a closed briefing to Congress, Senator Christopher S. Murphy said the administration lacked a clear plan to reopen the strait or end the conflict. Some officials reportedly feel frustrated by the absence of a coherent exit strategy, though they remain cautious about voicing dissent as President Trump continues to claim military success.

White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt stated that the administration had a firm plan before the war and expects oil prices to fall once the conflict ends, describing Iran’s market disruption as temporary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has threatened to kill Iran’s new supreme leader, saying that neither Iran’s new Ayatollah nor Hezbollah’s leader should expect any guarantee of safety. He made the remarks during his first press conference since the start of the war, while defending Israel’s joint military operation with the United States against Iran.

Netanyahu stated that Israel’s objective was to prevent Iran from moving its nuclear and ballistic projects underground. He claimed that the attacks, which began on February 28, stopped Iran from relocating those programs. According to him, nearly two weeks of strikes have killed top Iranian nuclear scientists and inflicted heavy losses on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Basij forces.

The report also mentioned that Iran’s new supreme leader remains alive but seriously injured, as stated by former U.S. President Donald Trump.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that Iran has suffered major losses from joint Israeli and US attacks, asserting that his country is becoming stronger. Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, he declared that 'Iran is no longer the same Iran,' marking his first public comment on the ongoing conflict with Tehran. Netanyahu said that the strikes, which began on February 28, killed top Iranian nuclear scientists and inflicted heavy damage on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Basij forces.

He claimed that Iran failed to move its nuclear and ballistic programs underground before the attacks began. When asked about Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem, Netanyahu said he would not take out 'life insurance' for them, implying no guarantees for their safety. He described Khamenei as a 'puppet of the Revolutionary Guard' who cannot appear publicly. Recently, Khamenei’s remarks were read on Iranian state television by a news presenter.

The comments underscore Israel’s portrayal of recent operations as a strategic success against Iran’s military and nuclear infrastructure.

U.S. officials told The New York Times that Iran began laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, a vital maritime route through which about 20 percent of global oil supply—around 31 million barrels of crude daily—passes. The move reportedly surprised the Trump administration, even as President Donald Trump publicly claimed that U.S. forces had destroyed Iran’s navy.

According to CNN, senior Trump administration officials privately told lawmakers that they had not previously considered the possibility of Iran closing the strait in response to U.S. and Israeli attacks. A former U.S. official who served under both Republican and Democratic administrations said that planning to prevent such a scenario had long been a core principle of U.S. national security policy, expressing astonishment that the administration had not prepared for it.

The incident underscores the strategic vulnerability of the Strait of Hormuz and raises concerns about potential disruptions to global oil markets if tensions escalate further.

An Israeli airstrike on the Iranian city of Arak killed a woman and a child and injured 35 others, according to the city’s deputy governor. The attack occurred early Friday, and around the same time, loud explosions were heard in several parts of Tehran. State media reported that airstrikes were detected in two eastern districts of the capital around 5:15 a.m. local time, with residents describing their homes shaking from the blasts.

Semi-official Fars News Agency confirmed the intensity of the explosions, noting widespread alarm among residents. The incidents come amid heightened regional tensions and ongoing hostilities between Israel and Iran.

U.S. President Donald Trump commented that the war against Iran was progressing rapidly and effectively, labeling Iran a “nation of terror and hate” and saying it was paying a high price. He made the remarks at the White House on Friday.

A French soldier was killed and several others injured in an attack in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region, according to French President Emmanuel Macron. This marks the first death of a French soldier in the ongoing conflict in the area. The French army earlier stated that its troops were engaged in training exercises with Iraqi partners when the drone strike occurred.

President Macron described the attack on French forces in Erbil as unacceptable. French troops have been stationed in the Kurdistan region as part of an international coalition fighting against the Islamic State (IS) group. Several hundred French soldiers are currently deployed there to support anti-IS operations and to train local forces.

The incident highlights the continuing security risks faced by coalition forces operating in northern Iraq, where sporadic attacks still occur despite the weakening of IS influence in the region.