The military operation against Iran entered its fourteenth day on Friday. All six crewmen from an American air refuelling tanker that crashed in Iraq while on Operation Epic Fury duties have died, CENTCOM said.
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**Friday’s live updates below. All updates in Eastern time**
15:00 PM: U.S. to deploy more forces to the Middle East
America is considerably uplifting its posture in the Middle East with the announcement of the deployment of the Tripoli Expeditionary Strike Group. Based around amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, the deployment means the arrival of several warships and around 5,000 U.S. Marines in theatre in a couple of weeks time, once they have steamed from the Pacific, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The Tripoli embarks both helicopters and F-35B Short Take Off and Vertical Landing-variant jets, but unlike traditional commando carriers does not have a well deck for operating landing craft.
Accompanying the Tripoli is USS Robert Smalls, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser. The Robert Smalls was originally named after the Confederate victory Civil War battle of Chancellorsville, but was renamed in 2023 after Black Lives Matter-era campaigning to remove all references to the Confederacy from the U.S. military. Robert Smalls was a former slave who escaped the South and commandeered a Confederate ship, turning it over to the Union.
Also accompanying the Tripoli is the USS Rafael Peralta, an Arleigh Burke-class Aegis guided missile destroyer.
The US Navy’s USS Tripoli (LHA-7) amphibious assault ship is seen during a port call at the Port Area in Manila on September 27, 2022. (Photo by JAM STA ROSA / AFP via Getty Images)
13: 35 PM: France names soldier killed in overnight drone strike
Six French soldiers were injured and one killed after their position at a military base in Iraq was hit by a Shahed-type drone overnight. Now France has named Chief Warrant Officer Arnaud Frion of the elite 7th Alpine Chasseurs as the victim of that attack.
Frion held an impressive record as a soldier, having been awarded France’s highest award for valour and given several bravery citations over 12 tours of duty including give in Mali and two in Afghanistan. France is in mourning for his loss, the government said.
We’ve got a full article with what we know about his biography, the circumstances of the attack, and the responses to his passing here.
12:20 PM: The U.N. must be involved
Veteran socialist and U.N. chief Antonio Guterres dropped into Beirut this morning for a “solidarity” visit. Lebanon has been the scene of fighting as the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) move to take out Hezbollah, the Iran-backed paramilitary which operated from Lebanese territory.
Guterres said: “I have just landed in Beirut for a visit of solidarity with the people of Lebanon. They did not choose this war. They were dragged into it.”
He’s always up to something. Read Simon Kent’s report on his latest trip — fresh from his Ramadan solidarity visit to Turkey — here.
11:30 AM: U.S. is “dealing with” Strait of Hormuz
The United States has destroyed the Iranian Navy and there is no cause for worry about long-term disruption to the critical Strait of Hormuz waterway, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at his daily press conference earlier. Decrying reports that the government had somehow been taken by surprise by Iranian attempts to close the Strait to international oil tanker traffic, the Secretary stated: “this is always what they do, hold the Strait hostage”, but there is “no clear evidence” of the Strait being mined.
Underlining the effectiveness of U.S. strikes, Hegseth said:
Iran has no air defences, Iran has no air force, Iran has no navy… their missile volume is down 90 per cent, their one-way attack drones yesterday down 95 per cent. As the world is seeing they are exercising sheer desperation in the Straits of Hormuz, something we are dealing with, we have been dealing with, and don’t need to worry about it. We are on plan to defeat, destroy, disable all of their meaningful military capabilities at a pace the world has never seen before.
President Trump “holds the cards” in this situation, he said, stating that while Iranian capability continues to collapse, the number of strikes the United States is able to launch rises with every passing day.
11:20 AM: All six crew from air tanker flight confirmed deceased
CENTCOM have now confirmed that all crew from the downed Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker which crashed in Iraq yesterday were killed in the loss. The announcement follows a near-24 hour search and rescue operation over Iraq. While the cause of the “incident” is under investigation, the U.S. has made clear it was not due to enemy action or friendly fire.
It may be that two air refuelling tankers collided while supporting Operation Epic Fury, the second aircraft sustaining serious but survivable damage, being able to limp back to an airbase.
Read our report here.
11:15 AM: Dubai in the crosshairs
Iran has struck out at a number of the Middle East’s megacities in the past two weeks, and has done so again today, with drones launched against Dubai in the UAE. The strikes appear to be part of a deliberate policy of attacking the economy of the Middle East, with Tehran saying it would be targeting economic institutions and banks linked to the West.
Buildings in Dubai’s financial district were damaged on Friday, including the Dubai International Financial Centre, which local authorities say was hit by falling debris from a successful interception of an incoming drone. Remarkably, the UAE government say they’ve intercepted over 1,500 drones and 300 missiles in the past fortnight.
Le Figaro states companies have started closing offices and evacuating staff from the financial district, including CitiBank, Deloitte, and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Britons are under something of a double threat in Dubai, with one citizen detained by UAE authorities for filming an Iranian attack on his phone. The 60-year-old British man was charged under cyber-crime laws which the BBC reports “prohibits publishing or sharing material that could disturb public security”. The case is similar to others that have emerged in Ukraine in recent years, where the reason given is that posting footage of airstrikes to social media offers free intelligence to Russia, who can analyse whether targets are being hit or not.
A critic cited by the BBC claimed that the UAE was cracking down hard on people taking pictures of air raids because the government wanted to “maintain the facade that it is safe for tourists”.
The British Embassy in the UAE responded by warning Britons in country to obey local laws and not share images of Iranian missile strikes on the country.
Smoke rises above Dubai on March 13, 2026. Explosions rattled buildings in Dubai and a large cloud of smoke hung over a central area of the Middle East financial hub on March 13, AFP correspondents said. (Photo by AFP via Getty Images) /
07:45 AM: Top Iranian leaders break cover
Perhaps understandably, we haven’t seen much of what remains of the top level of Iran’s government in the past two weeks. We haven’t even seen the new Supreme Leader at all since he was appointed, leading to some to call him mockingly the Cardboard Khamani.
But there was a rally in Tehran this morning and a handful of regime figures put in an appearance. Among them was Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s foreign minister, Ali Larijani, head of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council, Iranian nuclear boss Mohammad Eslami, Islamist jurist Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejei, and national police chief Ahmad-Reza Radan.
The march was for ‘Quds day’, the annual end-of-Ramadan Iranian event calling for the destruction of Israel. Quds has long been celebrated in London, too, but as reported earlier this week the protest has been banned by the government this year for the first time. Citing the high risk of unrest, anti-Israel protesters will be arrested if they attempt to march through the city.
Yet there is no law in Britain to ban a static demonstration, so the Al-Quds organisers have declared that will go ahead on Sunday. In a bid to keep a lid on things, police have used what powers they have to order the pro-and-anti-Israel protesters to either side of the River Thames.
07:30 AM: At least four dead in double Stratotanker collision
Sad news from CENTCOM this morning, who state that four of six crew of the Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker that crashed in Iraq yesterday are now confirmed dead. A rescue operation is still underway in hope of finding the other two. A second aircraft that was involved in the collision was able to limp home with half a tail, it seems. Our full report is here.
KC-135 flies over Iraq in this file photo from 2016 / U.S. Navy
For earlier Livewire updates from Thursday, please click here
Read the full article here
