Washington, 13 March 2026 (dpa/MIA) - The US armed forces on Thursday said they had lost an aerial refueling tanker aircraft over western Iraq in what appeared to be an incident, amid Washington's war with Tehran.

"U.S. Central Command is aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft," CENTCOM, which is responsible for the region in the Middle East, said in a statement.

The regional command went on to say that the "incident occurred in friendly airspace" during the current major US-Iraeli military operation against Iran, and "rescue efforts are ongoing."

CENTCOM said that two aircraft were involved, with one landing safely while the second "went down in western Iraq."

"This was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire," the statement continued.

Further details about the incident were not immediately available.

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