Refueling Tanker Crash Kills Six U.S. Troops; Israel Expands Strikes Against Hezbollah In Lebanon
Six U.S. service members died after a U.S. military refueling tanker crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed Friday. The crash brings the total number of U.S. service members killed in operations related to the war against Iran to at least 13.
THE DETAILS: The Pentagon said the crash was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire, and is being investigated as a possible mid-air collision. Military protocol dictates that the identity of the soldiers will be revealed 24 hours after their family is notified.
HEGSETH RESPONDS: “War is hell. War is chaos,” Hegseth said during a joint briefing Friday with Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine. “We will greet those heroes at Dover [Air Force Base in Delaware], and their sacrifice will only recommit us to the resolve of this mission.”
Hegseth, President Trump, and other White House officials attended a dignified transfer ceremony last weekend at Dover for six American troops who were killed in Kuwait during the first few days of the war with Iran. Another soldier also died last weekend from injuries sustained in an Iranian drone strike in Saudi Arabia early into the war.
HEGSETH ON MOJTABA
During the same briefing, Hegseth said “the United States is decimating the radical Iranian regime’s military” and that the Iranian regime’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is likely wounded and disfigured.
No photos or videos of Khamenei have been released since the war began on Feb. 28, or following his ascent to the regime’s most powerful position.
The regime previously released a photo of him that was manipulated by AI.
In a written statement purportedly put out by Khamenei on Thursday, he threatened revenge on the U.S.
ISRAEL-HEZBOLLAH CONFLICT ESCALATESIsrael threatened Friday to widen its counterattacks in Lebanon against the Hezbollah terrorist group, dropping leaflets in Beirut warning of Gaza-scale devastation if Hezbollah does not disarm. Hezbollah, which is armed and sponsored by the Iranian regime, launched strikes on Israel days after the US and Israel began their military campaign in Iran.
After more than a week of fighting, more than 680 people have been killed, and about 800,000 are displaced, Lebanese officials said Wednesday. Israeli evacuation orders now cover parts of Beirut and southern Lebanon, with roughly 10% of the country under evacuation notices.
ISRAEL’S THREAT: Defense Minister Israel Katz warned Friday that Israel will target Lebanese national infrastructure used by Hezbollah, Iran’s most powerful regional terror group, after the IDF struck a bridge it said terrorists were using to move operatives from the north to south.
Israel says the strikes are targeting Hezbollah fighters, missile launchers, command infrastructure, and weapons depots as part of a broader campaign to weaken the Iran-backed group. They are calling on the Lebanese government to follow through with agreements it signed to disarm Hezbollah.
RESUMED CONFLICT: Hezbollah fired about 200 rockets into northern Israel on Wednesday — its largest barrage so far in the current conflict. The Iran-backed group resumed attacks after breaking a 2024 ceasefire with Israel on March 2, two days after joint U.S.–Israeli military operations began targeting the regime.
Hezbollah has already been significantly degraded since the 2024 war, including losses among its leadership — including in the September 2024 pagers attack —and about two-thirds of its missile stockpile.
HOW DOES IT END? Lebanon’s government has appealed to U.S. and European leaders to intervene, offering to hold talks with Israel and seize Hezbollah’s arsenal, but Israel rejected the proposal. Officials told CNN that Lebanon failed to disarm the group as it had promised under a November 2024 deal.
WHAT ELSE TO KNOW
The war continues to have a ripple effect across the Middle East and global economy.
📌 President Trump told Fox News host Brian Kilmeade Friday that the war with Iran will end when “I feel it in my bones.”
📌 Oil continued to trade at around $100 a barrel worldwide Friday.
Meanwhile, gasoline prices in the U.S. rose again Friday to $3.630 a gallon — the highest since the war began.
📌 Gulf countries continued to repel strikes from Iran on Friday.
Explosions were heard in central Dubai as air defenses intercepted a projectile. A short time later, the U.A.E. said it was responding to a missile threat.
Meanwhile, some social media users, including foreigners, are facing charges in the U.A.E. under the country’s broad cybercrime laws for sharing or possessing digital content that portrays the impact of the Iranian attacks, an advocacy group warns.