Strikes target Gulf as French soldier killed in Iraq

• France confirmed its first combat death following a drone strike in Erbil, while the US reported the loss of a KC-135 refueling tanker in western Iraq
• ‘Israel’ struck over 200 targets in central and western Iran in a single day, while sirens at Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base and debris falling on a building in central Dubai signaled that no regional hub is currently safe

New waves of attacks struck Iran and Gulf nations on Friday after Tehran renewed its threats on oil facilities, while France announced its first soldier killed during the Mideast war.

The latest strikes on Iran hit over 200 targets in the past day, ‘Israel's’ military said well into the second week of the US-‘Israeli’ campaign that has grown into a deadly regional fight causing economic chaos.

Washington has moved to try to calm markets by announcing the easing of restrictions on Russian oil sales, though US President Donald Trump said defeating Iran's "evil empire" was more important than soaring crude prices.

Oil remained above the benchmark $100 a barrel on Friday despite a record release of crude reserves and the International Energy Agency warned the war could create "the largest supply disruption" in the industry's history.

The conflict, which began February 28 with US-‘Israeli’ strikes that killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, will head into its third week on Saturday.

Though France is not taking part in the US-‘Israeli’ bombing campaign against ‘Israel’, Paris has troops in the Middle East.

French President Emmanuel Macron announced Friday his nation's first soldier was killed during the war, in an attack in the Erbil region of Iraq that also wounded other soldiers.

Macron did not give details on the attack, or who was behind it, but France's military said earlier that drones hit a base where troops were taking part in counter-terrorism training with Iraqi counterparts.

France has said its stance in the war is "strictly defensive."

Earlier, a pro-Iranian group in Iraq, Ashab al-Kahf, warned French interests in the region were a target after the arrival of a French aircraft carrier, but there was no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Elsewhere in Iraq, a US refueling aircraft crashed, though the US military said it was "not due to hostile fire or friendly fire."

Iran's military however claimed in a statement carried by state TV that an allied group in Iraq had downed the aircraft with a missile, killing all its crew.

And in Turkey, sirens were heard at the Incirlik airbase, a key NATO facility where US troops are stationed, state news agency Anadolu reported.

There was no immediate comment on the report, which came four days after NATO air defences intercepted a ballistic missile in Turkish airspace.