Trump Attends Dover Transfer of 6 Airmen Killed in Iraq KC‑135 Crash

President Donald Trump is scheduled Wednesday to attend a dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for the remains of six U.S. service members killed when a KC‑135 refueling aircraft crashed over western Iraq while supporting combat operations against Iran. U.S. Central Command says the crash followed an unspecified incident involving two aircraft in friendly Iraqi airspace and that the loss was not caused by hostile or friendly fire, with the second plane landing safely; an investigation is underway. The dead include three airmen from the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida and three from the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Ohio, with named victims from Alabama, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and Washington state. Their deaths raise the U.S. toll in Operation Epic Fury to at least 13 killed and about 200 wounded, including 10 severely, underscoring the growing human cost of a war the administration continues to sell as necessary despite mounting incidents unrelated to direct enemy fire. Trump, who earlier this month called dignified transfers the “toughest” duty he faces and “the bad part of war,” is now making his second trip to Dover since the Iran campaign began, a cadence that is already drawing scrutiny from military families and war critics who question both the mission and the administration’s transparency around non‑combat losses.