Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US military bases across the Middle East this year, a new Defense Department watchdog report has revealed.
The Pentagon inspector general's report, released on Monday evening, offers a fresh look at the impact of the Iran war, including the scope of damage caused by Tehran's strikes against the US following the start of joint American-Israeli military action earlier this year.
US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan took damage, the report said. It cited information shared by US Central Command, which oversees American military operations in the Middle East.
The report to Congress, which covers developments between April 1 and June 30, does not say how much it could cost to repair those facilities. It did acknowledge, however, that Iranian attacks on US diplomatic facilities in four countries caused roughly $184 million in damage.
US and partner forces shot down more than 6,000 Iranian drones and 1,500 ballistic missiles that targeted their locations, but some munitions slipped past their air defenses, causing both damage and casualties across the region.
Among the facilities struck during the fighting was a US naval base in Bahrain, the American Navy's main logistics hub supporting operations in the region. Tehran targeted the base with both ballistic missiles and drones, forcing the US to divert naval sustainment resources from Bahrain to alternate locations.
The report said the establishment of support naval infrastructure "posed significant challenges" during Operation Epic Fury, partly due to uncertainty over port access from host countries.
Distance was another factor. For instance, CENTCOM shifted logistics support to Diego Garcia, a joint US-UK base in the Indian Ocean, but that required logistics cycles of more than two weeks because of the extended sea transit, the report said.
These logistical strains affected Navy warships supporting American combat operations, including USS Abraham Lincoln, which faced key supply issues before the aircraft carrier left the Middle East last month. The Pentagon has faced questions from Democratic lawmakers amid concerns over crew well-being.
In addition to US military facilities, dozens of American aircraft were also damaged or destroyed during Operation Epic Fury, including fighters, refueling planes, helicopters, and combat drones, the report said, citing information from the Congressional Research Service.
Some of the US aircraft were struck by Iranian fire on the ground at their bases, while others were hit in the air. Some aircraft were accidentally downed by friendly forces. The tally includes up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed "in various circumstances." They are estimated to cost upward of $30 million apiece.
The Department of Defense spent an estimated $33.4 billion on Operation Epic Fury during the period covered by the report, it said. That figure includes $3.7 billion in equipment losses.
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Jake Epstein is a defense correspondent in London for Business Insider, covering the US military, NATO, and European security, as well as emerging tech in warfare.Jake has filed stories from conflict zones in Ukraine and the Middle East, where he embedded with a US aircraft carrier on a combat deployment in the Red Sea. Jake has reported extensively on NATO operations across Europe, including from aboard an AWACS surveillance plane along the Russian border, an RAF Voyager tanker refueling fighter jets over the Baltic Sea, and a Dutch helicopter flying to a warship above the Arctic Circle.
