A US KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq during operations against Iran, with CENTCOM attributing the loss to a mid-air accident, while Iranian and Iraqi resistance forces claim they shot it down.
A US KC-135 Stratotanker crashed in western Iraq during ongoing military operations against Iran, sparking highly conflicting narratives between the United States military and Iran-aligned resistance groups.
According to the US Central Command (CENTCOM), as reported by the diaspora opposition network Iran International and independent aggregator Vahid Online, the crash occurred during an operation dubbed Epic Fury. CENTCOM's statement indicated that two aircraft were involved in an incident within friendly airspace; one crashed in western Iraq, while the second landed safely. CENTCOM strongly asserted that the incident was "not caused by enemy fire or friendly fire" and noted that search and rescue operations are ongoing.
In stark contrast, pro-regime and Resistance-aligned channels presented the crash as a successful military strike. The اخبارفوری خبرفوری جنگ امریکا فوری channel reported that the Islamic Resistance of Iraq issued an official statement claiming responsibility for the downing. The group stated its fighters intercepted the strategic aircraft over western Iraq using an "appropriate weapon" that led to its destruction.
Backing this narrative, the spokesperson for Iran's Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters explicitly claimed that the tanker was targeted by a missile fired by resistance groups, asserting that the plane crashed and all its crew were killed, as circulated by the pro-regime breaking news channel خبرفوری ࡆ اخبارفوری مذاکره ࡆ جنگ فوری. These channels also circulated images of the KC-135 model, characterizing it as an aircraft shot down in the sky over Iraq while supporting the aggression against Iran. Furthermore, pro-regime sources amplified unverified claims attributed to a CBS reporter, alleging that a second refueling aircraft was also hit but managed to land in occupied territory.
At present, US helicopters are reportedly searching the airspace over Iraq to locate the wreckage and the remains of the military personnel.
The background context provided regarding Afghan currency fluctuations was entirely unrelated to the source messages, which focus strictly on US-Iran military operations and the aircraft crash in Iraq; it was therefore omitted to avoid irrelevant associations. The digest reflects a heavy editorial divide: independent/diaspora channels faithfully transmitted CENTCOM's 'mid-air accident' account, while Iranian state-aligned channels aggressively reframed the event as a deliberate shootdown of an invading force, utilizing loaded terminology like 'aggression against Iran' and 'occupied territory' (referring to Israel), which were translated without sanitization.