Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the rising U.S. death toll in the Iran war, allegations of Pakistani forces targeting civilians in Afghanistan, and the cost of U.S. tariffs for American households.<\/p>\n
Ongoing Investigation<\/p>\n
Six U.S. service members were killed when a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed<\/a> on Friday. \u201cThe circumstances of the incident are under investigation,\u201d Centcom wrote on X. \u201cHowever, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.\u201d The incident involved two aircraft in \u201cfriendly airspace,\u201d only one of which landed safely, and investigators suspect that a midair collision<\/a> during a refueling mission was to blame.<\/p>\n Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the rising U.S. death toll in the Iran war, allegations of Pakistani forces targeting civilians in Afghanistan, and the cost of U.S. tariffs for American households.<\/p>\n Sign up<\/a> to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n Sign up to receive World Brief in your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n \n Sign Up\n <\/p>\n By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a> and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.<\/p>\n \n Enter your email<\/p>\n Sign Up Ongoing Investigation<\/p>\n Six U.S. service members were killed when a U.S. KC-135 refueling aircraft crashed in western Iraq on Thursday, U.S. Central Command confirmed<\/a> on Friday. \u201cThe circumstances of the incident are under investigation,\u201d Centcom wrote on X. \u201cHowever, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire.\u201d The incident involved two aircraft in \u201cfriendly airspace,\u201d only one of which landed safely, and investigators suspect that a midair collision<\/a> during a refueling mission was to blame.<\/p>\n This is the fourth manned U.S. aircraft that has crashed since Operation Epic Fury began in late February. The other three were U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighters that were shot down by Kuwaiti aircraft in a friendly fire incident<\/a> earlier this month; all six crew members from those jets ejected safely<\/a>. Thursday\u2019s crash brings the total number of U.S. service members killed in the war to 13.<\/p>\n Despite the death toll, U.S. President Donald Trump maintained on Friday that Washington is winning the war. \u201cWe are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise,\u201d he wrote<\/a> on Truth Social as U.S. and Israeli forces launched<\/a> new waves of attacks across Iran. Trump told Fox News<\/a> on Friday that Iran will be hit \u201cvery hard\u201d in the coming days.<\/p>\n The Iranian regime has been \u201ckilling 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,\u201d Trump wrote. \u201cWhat a great honor it is to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n Yet Iranian assaults continue to block commercial ships from transiting the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, threatening energy supply chains and driving up oil prices. Several European countries, including France, have reportedly opened talks<\/a> with Tehran to try to negotiate guaranteed safe passage for their vessels.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen whether Tehran will be amenable. However, Iran has allowed a Turkish-owned bulk carrier to exit the strait, Turkish Transportation Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu confirmed on Friday, making it one of the first ships to be granted leave.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the United States issued<\/a> a 30-day sanctions waiver on Thursday for countries seeking to purchase Russian crude as part of the Trump administration\u2019s effort to bring down oil costs<\/a>. The waiver only applies to supplies loaded on or before March 12 onto vessels that are currently stranded at sea. According to Kremlin envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the waiver will affect around 100 million barrels of Russian crude\u2014or almost a day\u2019s worth of global output.<\/p>\n \u201cThe temporary increase in oil prices is a short-term and temporary disruption that will result in a massive benefit to our nation and economy in the long-term,\u201d U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote<\/a> on X on Thursday. That same day, though, the International Energy Agency\u2014which the United States is a member of\u2014warned that the Iran war has caused the biggest disruption to global oil supplies in history. Crude costs eased early on Friday in response to the waiver announcement but ticked back up just hours later.<\/p>\n Today\u2019s Most Read<\/p>\n What We\u2019re Following<\/p>\n Civilian casualties. Afghanistan\u2019s Taliban regime accused<\/a> Pakistani forces on Friday of targeting residential homes in Kabul and other Afghan provinces. The United Nations\u2019 mission in Afghanistan confirmed<\/a> the strikes, saying at least four civilians were killed and 14 others injured in the Pul-e-Charkhi area. Pakistani forces also bombed private Afghan airline Kam Air\u2019s fuel depot near Kandahar International Airport on Friday; according to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid<\/a>, that fuel depot was used to supply civilian Kam Air flights as well as U.N. aircraft.<\/p>\n Islamabad has denied targeting civilian populations or infrastructure. On Friday, Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar posted<\/a> on X that the strikes were part of an ongoing operation targeting suspected militant camps and \u201cterrorist support infrastructure\u201d in the provinces of Kabul, Paktia, and Kandahar.<\/p>\n Cross-border fighting broke out late last month, when Pakistan declared<\/a> \u201copen war\u201d on Afghanistan for allegedly harboring the Pakistani Taliban. Although a U.N. Security Council report has found evidence<\/a> of Kabul providing these militants with weapons, the Taliban regime denies hosting the group and has instead accused Islamabad of trying to deflect blame for its own domestic security issues. In just 15 days of fighting, the U.N. mission has recorded<\/a> at least 75 civilian fatalities and 193 injuries on both sides.<\/p>\n The price of Trump\u2019s tariffs. New U.S. duties that Trump is pursuing could cost<\/a> American households an average of $2,512 in 2026, congressional Democrats warned in a new study shared with The Associated Press on Friday. That would be a 44 percent increase from what tariffs cost last year, and it comes at a time when the Iran war is raising global oil and gas prices<\/a> amid already high costs of living.<\/p>\n The report was produced by the Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee. \u201cAs American families continue to struggle with high costs, the President keeps choosing to institute new tariffs that will push prices even higher,\u201d said Sen. Maggie Hassan, the top Democrat on the committee.<\/p>\n The U.S. Supreme Court ruled<\/a> last month that Trump overstepped his executive power when he used the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose sweeping tariffs on Washington\u2019s trading partners. Trump has since imposed new duties under a different authority: Section 122 of the 1974 Trade Act. And on Wednesday, the Trump administration announced<\/a> new trade investigations<\/a> under Section 301 of that law to determine whether 16 U.S. trading partners\u2019 \u201cacts, policies, and practices are unreasonable or discriminatory and burden or restrict U.S. commerce.\u201d<\/p>\n According to White House spokesperson Kush Desai, U.S. tariffs are necessary to \u201crenegotiate broken trade deals, lower drug prices, and secure trillions in investments for the American people,\u201d adding that the Democrats\u2019 study was \u201cphony.\u201d<\/p>\n On the ballot. A record number of political parties in Haiti registered<\/a> by Thursday\u2019s deadline to participate in the country\u2019s upcoming general election. Around 280 parties are expected to take part in the vote, to be held on Aug. 30 with a runoff scheduled for Dec. 6. This will be Port-au-Prince\u2019s first democratic election since Jovenel Mo\u00efse won the presidency in 2016 with support from less than 10 percent<\/a> of registered voters.<\/p>\n Currently, Haiti is governed by interim Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aim\u00e9. Port-au-Prince\u2019s transitional council, which has overseen Haiti\u2019s government since the assassination of Mo\u00efse<\/a> in July 2021, stepped down in early February, as ordered by law.<\/p>\n \u201cToday, the country needs a new leader to allow the population to breathe,\u201d said Abel Decollines, a member of the newly founded Collective of Haitian Actors for Development and Alternative Organization party.<\/p>\n However, rampant gang violence threatens<\/a> the Caribbean nation\u2019s democratic future. Armed criminal groups control roughly 90 percent of Port-au-Prince and continue to expand their influence beyond the capital. In recent years, gang violence has killed thousands of people, displaced more than 1 million others, and devastated the economy. Haitian forces have used lethal drone strikes<\/a> to counter these groups, killing civilians in the crossfire, and a U.N.-backed task force<\/a> has largely failed to quell the violence.<\/p>\n What in the World?<\/p>\n What did Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, call a \u201cprovocative and aggressive war rehearsal\u201d on Tuesday?<\/p>\n A. Japanese naval exercises around Taiwan Odds and Ends<\/p>\n Has Banksy finally been unmasked? According to an in-depth Reuters<\/a> investigation published Friday, the famous anonymous graffiti artist appears to be Robin Gunningham, a man from Bristol, England, who later adopted the name David Jones. Looking at travel records, court documents, and other clues, reporters were able to link Gunningham to a Banksy mural of a man in a bathtub that appeared on a destroyed building in the Ukrainian village of Horenka in 2022.<\/p>\n Tens of thousands of installations, prints, and paintings are believed to be Banksy artworks, though the exact number is unknown. Banksy has not commented on the Reuters piece.<\/p>\n And the Answer Is\u2026<\/p>\n C. U.S.-South Korea military drills<\/p>\n Meanwhile, North Korea is pursuing weapons that could destroy enemy satellites, and it appears to be motivated by Washington\u2019s Golden Dome missile defense plans, Ankit Panda writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n To take the rest of FP\u2019s weekly international news quiz, click here<\/a>, or sign up<\/a> to be alerted when a new one is published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to World Brief, where we\u2019re looking at the rising U.S. death toll in the Iran war,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18357,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[855,34,856,94,899,8648,8649,858,51,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-18416","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-iraq","8":"tag-homepage_regional_middle_east_africa","9":"tag-iran","10":"tag-iran-u-s","11":"tag-iraq","12":"tag-oil-production","13":"tag-paywall-free","14":"tag-post-to-buffer","15":"tag-u-s-military","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116224264931550400","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18416","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18416"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18416\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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B. U.S. threats against the Cuban government
C. U.S.-South Korea military drills
D. India positioning military units along the Pakistani border<\/p>\n