US President Donald Trump on Saturday rejected media reports claiming American refuelling aircraft were destroyed during an Iranian strike on a Saudi air base, insisting that none of the planes had been “struck” or “destroyed” and were already back in operation.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the base had indeed been targeted a few days ago, but the aircraft were not destroyed in the attack. Track US Iran war live updates
“Four of the five had virtually no damage, and are already back in service,” Trump wrote, adding that “one had slightly more damage but will be in the air shortly.”
He stressed that “none were destroyed, or close to that, as the Fake News said in headlines.”
Trump pushes back against media reports.
Trump’s remarks came after a report by The Wall Street Journal suggested that US aircraft had been hit during a recent Iranian strike on a Saudi military facility.
According to the WSJ, five US Air Force refuelling planes were struck and damaged on the ground at the Prince Sultan Air Base. The report, citing two US officials, said the aircraft were hit during an Iranian missile attack in recent days.
The report further added that while the planes sustained damage, they were not fully destroyed and were being repaired. No casualties were reported in the strike, it added.
The developments come amid a broader escalation in the conflict involving Israel, the US and Iran. Tehran has continued to launch missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and Gulf states, while US and Israeli aircraft have carried out strikes on military and other sites inside Iran.
Earlier, the US military confirmed that all six crew members aboard an American Boeing KC‑135 Stratotanker refuelling aircraft were killed when the plane crashed in Iraq on Friday. The KC-135 crash marks the fourth publicly acknowledged aircraft loss tied to US operations against Iran. Earlier this month, three American fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by friendly fire from Kuwait.
Trump slams CNN for airing Iranian state TV
Trump has repeatedly accused sections of the media of misreporting developments during the conflict.
Earlier this month, the Trump administration criticised CNN for airing first remarks by Iran’s new supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei.
One of the US government’s account on X, known as Rapid Response 47, accused the broadcaster of amplifying Iranian state messaging.
“Fake News CNN just aired four straight minutes of uninterrupted Iranian state TV, run by the same psychotic and murderous regime that has prided itself on brutally slaughtering Americans for 47 years,” the account said in a post.
