The widow of an Alabama airman killed during Operation Epic Fury has revealed that she and her children have been denied some of the benefits that bereaved family members are usually entitled to because the Iran war has not been declared an official war.

"The Air Force recently told me that because we haven't officially declared war, my kids and I aren't eligible for some benefits," Libby Klinner, the wife of the late US Air Force Major John "Alex" Klinner, wrote in an Instagram post on Saturday.

Alex Klinner, 33, had just been promoted to major in January and had been deployed less than a week when the refueling aircraft he was aboard crashed in Iraq in March, killing him and five others. He left behind his wife, their 7-month-old twins and a 2-year-old son.