The command said the accident was under investigation, adding that “the loss of the aircraft was not caused by hostile fire or friendly fire.”
Iran’s military said in an earlier statement on state TV that the plane was shot down by a missile from an allied group in Iraq, killing all its crew.
The Islamic Resistance in Iraq, a loose coalition of Iran-backed Iraqi factions, claimed to have shot down the KC-135. He also said that he had targeted another aircraft which survived.
Since the beginning of the Middle East war, the coalition has been claiming daily attacks on U.S. interests in Iraq and throughout the region, but it rarely names its targets.