{"id":324656,"date":"2026-03-13T08:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T08:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=324656"},"modified":"2026-03-15T09:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T09:14:08","slug":"irgc-resistance-groups-strike-down-us-air-force-kc-135-aircraft-in-western-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=324656","title":{"rendered":"IRGC: Resistance groups strike down US Air Force KC-135 aircraft in western Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Press TV \u2013 March 12, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n<p><strong>Iraq&#8217;s resistance groups have struck down a US Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker, a symbol of American overreach and aggression.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The spokesman for the Central Headquarters of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) of Iran stated on Thursday night that the US military refueling plane was shot down by a missile fired by resistance groups in western Iraq. All of its crew were killed.\u00a0Six service members were aboard the downed tanker.<\/p>\n<p>The Public Relations Department of the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) also said in a statement that the air defense systems of the Resistance Front succeeded in targeting a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker tanker while it was refueling an aggressor fighter jet, killing six of its crew members<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft plummeted from the skies in a blaze of righteous retribution, claiming the lives of its crew who had dared to infringe upon sovereign lands.<\/p>\n<p>The United States acknowledged that one of its aircraft had crashed in western Iraq.<\/p>\n<p>According to US Central Command (CENTCOM),\u00a0the incident involved two aircraft, with one going down in friendly airspace and the other landing safely in Israel.<\/p>\n<p>CENTCOM confirmed the crash in a statement, claiming that it was not the result of hostile or friendly fire.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;US Central Command is aware of the loss of a US KC-135 refueling aircraft,&#8221; the statement read. &#8220;The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft was downed\u00a0amid heightened US military activity in the region as part of the US and Israeli military aggression against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>The KC-135, a workhorse of the US Air Force since the 1950s, plays a critical role in extending the range of fighter jets and bombers by providing mid-air refueling, which has been essential for sustained airstrikes over Iran and surrounding areas.<\/p>\n<p>On February 28, the United States and the Israeli regime started their unprovoked military assault on Iran. Following the aggression, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei was assassinated.<\/p>\n<p>Iran began to swiftly retaliate against the criminal aggression by launching barrages of missiles and drone attacks on the Israeli-occupied territories as well as on the US bases in regional countries.<\/p>\n<p>Iran has repeatedly emphasized that it only targets American positions and bases in the region and does not seek conflict with Arab countries.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.presstv.ir\/Detail\/2026\/03\/12\/765315\/Iraq-s-resistance-groups-strike-down-US-Air-Force-KC-135-aircraft\">Source\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>US KC-135 tanker crashes in Iraq, though not from enemy fire, officials say<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Jeff Schogol \u2013 Yahoo News March 12, 2026<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>A U.S. KC-135 aerial tanker has crashed in western Iraq during a routine mission, with one aircraft going down and the second landing safely, according to U.S. Central Command.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A U.S. KC-135 aerial tanker has gone down over western Iraq, military officials announced Thursday. Rescue efforts are ongoing, according to a brief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centcom.mil\/MEDIA\/PRESS-RELEASES\/Press-Release-View\/Article\/4432850\/loss-of-us-kc-135-over-iraq\/\">news release from U.S. Central Command<\/a>, or CENTCOM.<\/p>\n<p>The incident took place in uncontested airspace while it was flying in support of the ongoing U.S. military operations against Iran that began on Feb. 28, the news release says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo aircraft were involved in the incident,\u201d the news release says. \u201cOne of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely. This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>An Associated Press reporter posted on social media that the <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/KToropin\/status\/2032218516611285380\">second aircraft was also a KC-135<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>No further information was immediately available about the circumstances of the incident or how many U.S. troops were aboard the KC-135. Most KC-135s fly with 3 crew members, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.af.mil\/About-Us\/Fact-Sheets\/Display\/Article\/1529736\/kc-135-stratotanker\/\">an Air Force fact sheet<\/a> \u2014 a pilot, co-pilot and a boom operator, who \u201cflies\u201d the refueling probe, or boom, from the rear of the aircraft (older models may also fly with a navigator).<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Mishaps are uncommon but do occur<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/us-kc-135-tanker-crashes-222516337.html\">Continues \u2026\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iraqi resistance fighters claim to have shot down a US KC-135 Stratotanker as it was refueling a US jet over Western Iraq. Although the US Central Command has confirmed the loss of the KC-135, it ruled out enemy action without specifying the actual cause.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":324657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[51,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-324656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Iran","category-Iraq"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=324656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324658,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324656\/revisions\/324658"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/324657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=324656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=324656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=324656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}