All six members of the crew onboard a United States aerial refuelling aircraft were killed after it crashed in western Iraq, the US military said on Friday.

The announcement came hours after the US Central Command said that four of the six members had died and that rescue efforts had continued. The plane had crashed during a combat mission in the early hours of Friday amid the West Asia conflict.

“Two aircraft were involved in the incident,” the US military said earlier on Friday. “One of the aircraft went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.”

It added that while the circumstances of the incident are under investigation, the incident “was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire”.

Here are more top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • The bodies of 84 Iranian sailors who were killed when the warship IRIS Dena was torpedoed by a United States submarine near Sri Lanka on March 4 are being repatriated to Iran by a chartered aircraft, foreign ministry spokesperson Thushara Rodrigo told AFP on Friday. “The 32 sailors who were rescued by our navy will remain in Sri Lanka,” he added.
  • Since February 28, more than 1,200 persons have been killed in Iran, AFP reported on Friday, quoting the country’s health ministry. The number includes around 200 women and 200 children under the age of 12, with more than 10,000 civilians injured. On Thursday, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency said that at least 1,825 people had been killed, including 1,276 civilians.
  • Israel’s Ministry of Health said that as of 7 am on Friday, 2,975 persons had been injured in the country since the conflict began. Of them, 85 remained hospitalised, with 11 in a serious condition, 10 in moderate condition and 64 with mild injuries.
  • US President Donald Trump said the war on Iran was “moving along very rapidly” and “doing very well”, reported The Guardian. He described Iran as “a nation of terror and hate” and said it was “paying a big price right now”.
  • The US president also claimed that Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was alive but “damaged”, Fox News reported. “I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form, you know,” Trump told the news channel. Mojtaba Khamenei is yet to be seen in public by Iranians since he was named the new leader on Sunday, and his first remarks were read out on television on Thursday, Reuters reported.
  • Iran said on Thursday that it will not close the Strait of Hormuz, reported Reuters. However, Tehran added that it has the “inherent right to preserve the peace and security in this waterway”.
  • The statement by Iran’s United Nations Ambassador Saeid Iravani came soon after the country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said that Iran will continue blocking the Strait of Hormuz, reported BBC. About 20% of global oil passes through the maritime chokepoint.
  • Iravani told the UN on Thursday that “Iran ​fully respects and remains committed to the principle of freedom of navigation under ⁠the law of the sea”. However, the escalating tension in West Asia, including the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, was “not the result of Iran’s lawful exercise of its right of self-defence”, he added.
  • As Mojtaba Khamenei had stated a day earlier that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed to pressure Tehran’s opponents, benchmark Brent crude oil prices jumped above the $100 per barrel-mark once again on Friday. The oil prices have spiked by nearly 40% since Israel and the United States launched joint attacks against Iran on February 28, according to AFP.
  • The US Central Command stated that the country’s military had struck 6,000 targets in Iran since the conflict began. This included about 60 ships and 30 minelaying vessels, it added. Other targets were command centres, weapons production facilities, ballistic missile sites, submarines and air defence systems in Iran, the central command added.
  • Qatar Airways announced that 143 flights will be made operational from March 13 to March 17 to evacuate those stranded in Doha, reported Al Jazeera. The flights will also assist “Qatar residents who were trapped outside the country, also get back”, it added.
  • Meanwhile, a Liberia-flagged oil tanker that sailed from Saudi Arabia on March 3 carrying around one million barrels of crude oil crossed the Strait of Hormuz and docked at Mumbai on Wednesday, reported The Hindu. According to media reports, this was the first such vessel to reach India since the conflict in West Asia began.

The conflict

The conflict in West Asia began on February 28 after Israel and the United States launched a joint operation to “degrade the capabilities” of the Iranian government.

Tehran retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeting major cities in other Gulf countries and some ships.

The joint attacks by Israel and the US on Iran came amid tensions between the three countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance.

Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.

Also read: From weddings to funerals, Iran war has hit life in India