Pentagon report: Iranian strikes damaged US bases across the region
The Pentagon's official inspector general, in a report covering February 28-June 30, found that Iranian strikes hit US bases and facilities in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan, damaging hundreds of structures.
RastinewsIranian strikes hit US bases and facilities in eight regional countries during the opening months of the war between the United States and Iran, according to a classified report by the Pentagon's official inspector general obtained by Rudaw. The report, covering the period from February 28 to June 30, found that hundreds of buildings and structures in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan were damaged or destroyed outright, and that stockpiles of some critical US munitions were significantly depleted or exhausted.
Deployment patterns shifted, evacuations moved to roads
The strikes forced US Central Command (CENTCOM) to overhaul its operational posture in the region, the report said. The command relocated part of its personnel, military assets and storage facilities to different sites. With medical evacuation helicopters withdrawn from Iraq and Kuwait, evacuations were instead carried out by road to local health facilities.
Navy's Bahrain hub destroyed
The US Navy's regional headquarters in Bahrain was also destroyed in the strikes, the report said. With the facility rendered unusable, the US struggled to find adequate naval bases and support ports in the region and turned to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean as a naval logistics hub instead — a shift that stretched resupply cycles to 14 to 18 days.
$184 million in damage to diplomatic facilities
Iranian strikes on US diplomatic facilities across the Middle East caused roughly $184 million in damage, the report found, though it did not provide a cost estimate for damage to military facilities. In early March, the US Embassy in Riyadh was struck by two Iranian drones, and the US Consulate in Dubai was also targeted in a drone attack. The US Embassy in Kuwait was damaged in March and suspended operations, resuming emergency functions only at the end of June.
Roughly 3,500 diplomatic personnel stayed away from the region during the period, the report said, most of them under US-authorized or ordered departures. Some diplomats and their families have since begun returning to the region, according to the report.