All six crew members aboard US plane confirmed dead after crashing in Iraq
An Iran-linked militia group in Iraq said its fighters were responsible for bringing down the plane.
All six crew members are dead after a US plane was downed over Western Iraq on Thursday afternoon.
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A rescue mission was launched late on Thursday, but US Central Command has now confirmed six people are dead.
They added the crash involved another aircraft and was not a result of enemy or friendly fire.
“The incident occurred in friendly airspace during Operation Epic Fury, and rescue efforts are ongoing,” a Central Command statement said.
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Despite this statement, an Iran-linked militia group in Iraq said its fighters were responsible for the crash.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq released a statement claiming that its fighters had targeted the aircraft.
It comes as US President Donald Trump took to social media to revel in the killing of Iranian people, as American and Israeli attacks continue across the country.
Taking to TruthSocial, Trump wrote: “We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise, yet, if you read the Failing New York Times, you would incorrectly think that we are not winning.
“Iran’s Navy is gone, their Air Force is no longer, missiles, drones and everything else are being decimated, and their leaders have been wiped from the face of the earth.
“We have unparalleled firepower, unlimited ammunition, and plenty of time - Watch what happens to these deranged scumbags today.
“They’ve been killing innocent people all over the world for 47 years, and now I, as the 47th President of the United States of America, am killing them.
“What a great honor it is to do so!”
The comments came the day after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei vowed to "not refrain from avenging the blood" of Iranians killed, and warned Gulf Arab nations to shut US bases, saying the notion of American protection was "nothing more than a lie".
Intense air strikes hit early Friday around Iran's capital, Tehran, as well as outlying areas. It was not immediately clear what had been targeted.
The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, remained stubbornly over 100 dollars per barrel as Iran kept its stranglehold on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway through which a fifth of the world's oil transits on its way from the Persian Gulf to the open seas.
Brent prices have spiked as high as about 120 dollars per barrel and are currently some 40% higher than when Israel and the United States attacked Iran on February 28 to start the war.Iran has been attacking ships that try to transit the strait, and Mr Khamenei's comments - his first to the public since being named to replace his father, who was killed during the first day of the conflict - said Iran would continue to block the waterway.