<\/p>\nListen to this article<\/span>\u00a0|\u00a0<\/span>1 min<\/span><\/p>\n<\/button>info<\/title><path class=\"icon-main-color\" d=\"M12 0a12 12 0 1 0 0 24 12 12 0 0 0 0-24Zm-.226 3.225a2.039 2.039 0 0 1 2.155 1.924v.193a1.998 1.998 0 0 1-2.155 2.149 2.029 2.029 0 0 1-2.146-2.15 2.039 2.039 0 0 1 1.955-2.122h.193l-.002.006Zm3.227 15.525a.75.75 0 0 1-.752.75H9.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.75h.748V12h-.75a.75.75 0 0 1-.75-.75v-1.5a.75.75 0 0 1 .752-.751h3a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.752v6.75h.75a.75.75 0 0 1 .75.749L15 18.75Z\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>The United States has acknowledged that one of its aircraft has crashed in western Iraq, amid the country\u2019s joint military offensive with Israel against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, US Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East and parts of Asia, issued a brief <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centcom.mil\/MEDIA\/PRESS-RELEASES\/Press-Release-View\/Article\/4432850\/loss-of-us-kc-135-over-iraq\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">statement<\/a> announcing the aircraft\u2019s crash, as well as rescue efforts.<\/p>\n<section class=\"more-on\">\n<h2 class=\"more-on__heading\">Recommended Stories<!-- --> <\/h2>\n<p><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">list of 3 items<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">end of list<\/span><\/section>\n<p>There was no immediate indication whether there were fatalities or survivors.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cU.S. Central Command is aware of the loss of a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The statement appeared to suggest that the crash involved two planes, possibly colliding or engaging in close manoeuvres. The second plane, it said, \u201clanded safely\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,\u201d the statement added.<\/p>\n<p>Before the aircraft crash, the US military had reported that seven service members had died in the ongoing military campaign. Another 140 have been wounded overall, with Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell counting eight that face severe injuries.<\/p>\n<p>Thursday\u2019s crash is the latest to befall the US military since it began operations against Iran on February 28.<\/p>\n<p>Already, three fighter jets were downed in an apparent friendly fire incident on March 1, just one day into the war.<\/p>\n<p>Central Command <a href=\"https:\/\/www.centcom.mil\/MEDIA\/PRESS-RELEASES\/Press-Release-View\/Article\/4418568\/three-us-f-15s-involved-in-friendly-fire-incident-in-kuwait-pilots-safe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explained<\/a> that the jets, three F-15E Strike Eagles, were \u201cmistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defences\u201d during an active combat situation, as Iran issued retaliatory attacks across much of the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>In that incident, the six aircraft personnel on board the fighter jets ejected safely and were recovered in stable condition.<\/p>\n<p>Still, the war against Iran has been unpopular among the US public, with polls showing it is the first conflict in recent decades to have a negative approval rating from the outset.<\/p>\n<p>A survey released on March 9, for instance, from Quinnipiac University found that 53 percent of voters opposed the military offensive against Iran.<\/p>\n<p>An even higher proportion, 74 percent, rejected the idea of starting ground operations, with \u201cboots on the ground\u201d for US troops.<\/p>\n<p>Those findings were echoed by other polls. The research firm Ipsos, for example, found that a majority of Americans surveyed, 43 percent, disapproved of the US strikes, dwarfing the 29 percent who approved. The rest expressed uncertainty over whether they supported the military offensive or not.<\/p>\n<p>The war against Iran has been divisive even among supporters of President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly defended the military assault as necessary for US national security.<\/p>\n<p>Prominent conservative personalities, like talk show host Tucker Carlson, have questioned that logic, though. Carlson even suggested Trump may have been misled by his advisers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s being shown polling that this war is like a 90-10 win for him,\u201d Carlson said of Trump.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with ABC News, Carlson went so far as to call the war \u201cabsolutely disgusting and evil\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Trump has responded by disavowing his critics, even those, like Carlson, who count themselves among his \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d (MAGA) movement. \u201cMAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things,\u201d Trump told ABC News.<\/p>\n<p>But the president\u2019s administration has struggled to make a public case for the war, citing an array of rationales for why military operations were necessary.<\/p>\n<p>In one public appearance, Trump warned that a \u201cnuclear war\u201d would have broken out if Iran had not been confronted. In another, he argued that negotiations with Iran to scale back its nuclear programme had been fruitless, despite officials repeatedly suggesting they had been close to a deal.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested that a US attack was launched because \u201cwe knew there was going to be an Israeli action\u201d against Iran, though he later backtracked on those comments.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the seven dead US military members, an estimated 1,348 Iranians have been killed since the start of hostilities, as well as 15 Israelis. A further 17 people have died in nearby Gulf states, as violence spills across the region.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Listen to this article\u00a0|\u00a01 min info The United States has acknowledged that one of its aircraft has crashed in western Iraq, amid the country\u2019s joint military offensive with Israel against Iran. On Thursday, US Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East and parts of Asia, issued a brief statement announcing the aircraft\u2019s crash, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-canada-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}