US Says KC-135 Refueling Aircraft Crashes In Western Iraq
The Pentagon said a KC-135 refueling aircraft has gone down in western Iraq during the current air campaign against Iran, marking the fourth US military aircraft lost during the mission.
US Central Command, responsible for American forces in the Middle East, on March 12 said in a statement that the incident involved two aircraft and that the downing was "not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."
"The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing. Two aircraft were involved in the incident," it added.
The statement said that one of the aircraft involved in the incident went down in western Iraq, and the second landed safely.
On March 2, US military officials said three F-15 fighter jets crashed in Kuwait after being hit by friendly fire from Kuwaiti air defenses.
All six of the crew from the three F-15s ejected and parachuted to the ground before being located by rescuers, Central Command said.
Trump Suggests Iran Soccer Team Withdraw From World Cup For Safety Reasons
US President Donald Trump suggested in a social media post that Iran’s national soccer team should pull out of the upcoming World Cup tournament because of “life and safety” reasons.
“The Iran National Soccer Team is welcome to The World Cup, but I really don’t believe it is appropriate that they be there, for their own life and safety,” he wrote on March 12 on Truth Social, without specifying what the dangers might be.
The United States, Canada, and Mexico are co-hosting the 2026 World Cup -- perhaps the most popular sporting event in the world -- running from June 11 to July 19.
All three of Iran's three group stage matches are scheduled to take place at US venues.
The team is slated to play New Zealand on June 15 and Belgium on June 21 in the Los Angeles area. It is scheduled to face Egypt on June 26 in Seattle.
Iran's national sports minister, Ahmad Donyamali, told state TV this week that the country could not participate in the World Cup amid the ongoing US-Israeli air strikes against Iran beginning on February 28.
He specifically cited the killing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, who died during the first day of air strikes against Iran. His son, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, was chosen on March 8 to succeed him.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino on March 12 said he had spoken with Trump “about the situation in Iran,” and was told that Iran's team is “welcome to compete” in the 48-team World Cup, which occurs every four years.
Trump on March 3 said that “I really don’t care” when asked about the possibility of Iran withdrawing from the World Cup.
Netanyahu Says 'Heavy Blows' Dealt To Iran
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that almost two weeks of air strikes on Iran have dealt heavy blows to the country's main armed forces, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), and the Basij paramilitary.
Speaking in his first press conference since the start of US-Israeli air strikes on February 28, Netanyahu said one of the main aims of the campaign is to stop Iran from moving nuclear and ballistic weapons projects underground.
He added in the March 12 press conference that the military operation is also aimed "to create, for the Iranian people, the conditions to bring down this regime."
Israeli President Calls For 'Hitting Iran Hard' As Attacks Continue On Both Sides
The exchange of fire between Iran and Israel continued on March 12, with strikes hitting civilian sites in central Israel as its military claimed to have targeted Basij militia checkpoints in Tehran.
Speaking to RFE/RL, Israeli President Isaac Herzog said his country aims to keep up the intense campaign to "remove [Iran's] capabilities" to wage war.
Israeli Army Confirms Targeting Checkpoints In Tehran
The Israeli Army announced on March 12 that the country's air force had targeted checkpoints in Tehran over the past 24 hours.
Israel's statement, which included video footage, said its air force had identified and targeted "Basij unit posts and forces" in several locations in Tehran, killing members of the paramilitary forces.
Israel claimed the attacks are "deepening the blow to the nuclear layers and key infrastructure" of the Iranian regime.
While publishing images and reports of widespread drone flights in the skies over Tehran, Iran's Fars News Agency -- which is close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps -- reported that Israeli strikes were seeking to target checkpoints of government agents in Tehran.
Fars reported that 10 officers were killed during these attacks.
Saudi Arabia Says Iranian Drones Headed For Shaybah Oil Field Intercepted Again
Saudi Arabia's Defense Ministry said it intercepted three drones headed towards the Shaybah oil field on March 12, the latest in a series of attempts by Iran to strike the facility and disrupt global energy markets as part of its retaliation for US and Israeli air strikes. "Interception and destruction of a drone in the Empty Quarter heading towards the Shaybah field," the ministry said in a post on X. Earlier in the day, the ministry said two drones heading towards the same field were also destroyed. On March 11, Saudi Arabia said it had prevented several drone attacks against the facility, which is crucial to the country's oil production.
US 'Not Ready' To Escort Oil Tankers, Says Energy Chief
US President Donald Trump has said the US Navy may be brought in to help escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz, but US Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC in an interview on March 12 that it may take several more weeks before that is possible.
"It'll happen relatively soon, but it can't happen now,” Wright said in the March 12 interview.
"We're simply not ready. All of our military assets right now are focused on destroying Iran's offensive capabilities and the manufacturing industry that supplies their offensive capabilities."
To read the full report, click here.
Iran's Navy Is Largely Gone. The Threat To The Strait Of Hormuz Is Not.
The United States and Israel have largely destroyed Iran's conventional naval fleet in a massive bombing campaign since February 28.
But Tehran's threat to the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping routes, has not diminished. Iran has effectively closed the narrow waterway, through which 20 percent of the world's oil supplies flow, by using asymmetric warfare tactics.
Besides Iran's conventional navy, the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of the country's armed forces, has its own naval units that continue to hound and attack shipping in the Persian Gulf.
"While I think the Iranian Navy is largely combat ineffective at this point, the IRGC navy remains able to harass shipping," said Sascha Bruchmann, a military and security affairs analyst at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.
"That maintains a specter of danger that most civilian shipping lines and insurers will find unacceptable," Bruchmann added.
To read the full report, click here.
Iran To Keep Strait Of Hormuz Closed, Khamenei Says
Iran must continue to keep a key Gulf shipping lane closed, Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said in his first public comments since being named to succeed his late father, hours after several vessels were targeted in strikes as Tehran looks to choke off oil supplies from leaving the Middle East.
In the statement, which was read out on Iranian state TV by a female presenter on March 12, Khamenei said Iran will continue to seek to strike targets where "the enemy has little experience and will be severely vulnerable."
Iran has been launching air and water strikes at targets across the Middle East in retaliation for US and Israeli attacks that started on February 28, the day his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in one such bombardment.
To read the full report, click here.
Israeli President Calls Iran 'Empire Of Evil' That Must be 'Hit Hard'
RAMLA, ISRAEL -- Israeli President Isaac Herzog has told RFE/RL that Iran is an "empire of evil" that must be "hit hard" in order to preserve his country's way of life.
Herzog was speaking during a visit to a kindergarten that was damaged by an Iranian ballistic missile in Ramla, just outside Tel Aviv, three days previously.
"Ramla is a historic city. Even Bonaparte, Napoleon, slept in this city," he said.
"It's Jews and Arabs living together, Muslims, Christians, and Jews dwelling together in the most beautiful place. And in order to continue living together, when the empire of evil from Tehran tries to undermine any form of peace and any process of normalization, we have to hit hard at them. We have to remove their capabilities so that there will be a new future for the Middle East," he added.
Asked by RFE/RL if the war could end without achieving regime change in Iran, a war aim that has often been stated by Israeli officials, Herzog waved his hand and walked away with security guards.
