US military bases across the Middle East have suffered extensive damage from Iranian missile and drone strikes during the more than six-month conflict, according to photographs and videos obtained by ABC News.
The images reportedly show damaged buildings and an aircraft at three US military facilities in Kuwait and at a Saudi Arabian base hosting American military assets. Some equipment and personnel had been evacuated from the affected locations.
One photograph appears to show an E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft, valued at about $270 million, damaged at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in late March, according to the report.
A senior US service member, speaking anonymously, described the damage as severe.
“These bases have been irreparably damaged. And if we choose to rebuild them, it’s going to be a decades-long undertaking,” the service member said.
The official also criticised the Pentagon’s public disclosure of the extent of the attacks.
“There are drone strikes and ballistic missile strikes actively landing on bases every day,” the service member said.
A Pentagon inspector general report released on Monday said “hundreds of buildings and structures” had been damaged during the conflict.
Estimates of the financial cost vary. The Pentagon watchdog put the cost of the war at approximately $33 billion, while the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated it at $38 billion.
According to the US Defence Department, 18 American service members have been killed and 824 wounded since the conflict began on February 28.
The deadliest single attack on US personnel occurred on the second day of the war, when six soldiers were killed at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait.
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has said protecting American forces remains a top priority. He has also acknowledged that US defensive systems have not intercepted every Iranian weapon launched at American positions.
The newly released imagery provides further indication of the physical toll of Iranian attacks on US military infrastructure, although the anonymous service member’s assessment that some bases are “irreparably damaged” represents that individual’s assessment rather than an official Pentagon conclusion.