Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine are briefing reporters at the Pentagon Friday on the latest developments in the war with Iran, a day after a U.S. military refueling tanker crashed in western Iraq.
At least four U.S. service members were killed the crash, according to the U.S. military, which said rescue efforts were still underway for two other crew members.
“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement shared on social media Friday. “However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.”
Central Command said Thursday the military had struck about 6,000 targets inside Iran since the war began on Feb. 28, and President Trump said on the same day that the “situation with Iran is moving along very rapidly.”
But Iran’s assaults have continued, and oil prices have risen to over $100 a barrel while stock prices are sliding, even in the face of the president’s assertions that he’ll end the war soon and announcements of major oil reserve releases.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday that the U.S. would temporarily loosen sanctions against Russia, to allow the Kremlin to sell Russian oil that’s already at sea. It’s an effort to loosen the wartime sanctions that restrict Russia’s oil industry as the world grapples with high oil prices.
So far, the administration has said little about Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whom was said by an Iranian official to have been injured in the attack, but is “alive and well,” though he has not been seen since the war began. Iranian state media released a statement attributed to him on Thursday that said Iran should keep leveraging its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz and vowed to continue attacks on targets in Gulf Arab nations.
Ship traffic remains largely stopped in the Strait of Hormuz, though Bessent has said the U.S. Navy could escort oil tankers through the Strait.
