Cost of the Iran War: The United States spent roughly $11 billion last week on the war with Iran, a Pentagon official said Thursday, offering the first public estimate of the conflict’s cost—though some Democratic lawmakers argue the real figure is likely much higher.
Colombian President: Meanwhile, Colombian President Gustavo Petro criticized U.S. foreign policy and urged the Trump administration to pursue dialogue with Latin America rather than military interventions. Petro objected to Colombia’s exclusion from the “Shield of the Americas,” a new anti-cartel coalition announced at a summit in Miami, despite Colombia’s decades-long fight against drug-trafficking groups.
Colombia and several neighboring countries are major producers of coca, placing the region at the center of the global cocaine trade and decades of U.S. anti-drug policy. According to The New York Times, the Trump administration’s intensified drug war has included strikes on suspected trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 150 people since September 2025.
Petro has also linked declining birth rates to what he calls a broader “culture of extinction” in societies facing climate change and economic limits. He argued that many people believe global capitalism has reached its limits and could ultimately threaten the survival of life itself.
Four US Aircrafts crashed so far: Separately, a U.S. military aerial refueling tanker involved in operations related to Iran crashed Thursday in western Iraq, according to multiple U.S. officials speaking to CBS News. Recovery efforts are underway near Turaibil, along the Iraqi-Jordanian border, where a Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker went down. The status of the crew remains unknown. A second Stratotanker involved in the same incident was damaged but landed safely.
Flight tracking data from FlightRadar24 shows that a KC-135 declared an emergency before landing in Tel Aviv Thursday evening. U.S. Central Command said both aircraft were involved in the same incident and that it was not caused by hostile or friendly fire.
The crash marks the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft loss linked to Operation Epic Fury. Earlier this week, the U.S. military confirmed that three F-15E Strike Eagles were downed in a friendly-fire incident involving Kuwait, though all six crew members safely ejected.
Recovery operations for downed aircraft are typically conducted under Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP) missions. These rapid-response operations aim to secure the crash site, rescue or recover crew members, and retrieve or destroy sensitive equipment before it can fall into hostile hands.
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