Iran Hit US Air Defenses First, Then Aircraft and Housing, Two Satellite Reviews Find

Washington. Two independent reviews of satellite imagery, published within a day of each other, have given the first full public picture of the damage Iran did to US bases in eight months of war. The Associated Press found that Iran opened by hitting the radars and air defense systems meant to detect incoming fire, then moved on to hangars, warehouses and the buildings where American troops sleep. The Wall Street Journal, working from European satellite images, reached a similar picture and estimated that repairing the bases alone could cost $5 billion to $15 billion.

What the AP found

The AP said more than 115 drone and missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian backed militias damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites holding US equipment through August. Reporters verified the damage with satellite imagery from several providers and four regional officials briefed on the strikes. Most attacks landed in Kuwait. Sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were also hit.

At Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, the AP counted at least 30 strikes, damaging or destroying at least 15 hangars, many warehouses and 10 buildings near a residential area. At Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, more than 30 structures were damaged or destroyed between March and August. From April 1 to June 30 alone, Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings on US bases. Two regional officials told the AP the damage pushed the United States to move many aircraft and air defense systems out of the Persian Gulf.

What the Journal found

The Journal counted 274 damaged structures at 24 installations with a US military presence in the first six months of the war. At least 119 buildings at 13 installations were damaged in the first two weeks, most in Kuwait, and Naval Support Activity Bahrain, headquarters of the US Navy Fifth Fleet, was among the hardest hit. A US official told the Journal the Pentagon puts base damage at a minimum of $5 billion. Another source put it as high as $15 billion. The Journal said Iran grew more precise as the war went on. After a ceasefire collapsed on July 7, Iranian fire shifted west to bases hundreds of miles from Iran, and the buildings hit got smaller, a sign, current and former service members said, that Iran was aiming at base housing, often converted shipping containers or tents.

The deadliest strikes

The AP said the deadliest known attack came on March 1, when a drone strike at Port Shuaiba in Kuwait killed six US soldiers. The Journal documented a July 17 strike on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan that killed three American service members and damaged at least 19 buildings, including facilities where troops sleep. The Pentagon count for the war stands at 23 dead and 865 wounded.

Washington has said little

US Central Command declined to give the AP a detailed account, citing operational security. The Pentagon told the AP US forces and bases remain well protected, and it has declined to give the Journal specific damage assessments. The public record stayed thin partly because pictures were hard to get. The AP reported major satellite providers delayed or blocked imagery releases at the request of US officials. The Journal said big US commercial satellite companies stopped releasing high resolution imagery of the bases early in the war, so its reporters counted from European Space Agency images taken about every five days. The new damage figures sit on top of the war bill the Pentagon gave Congress this month: $47.1 billion through October 16, not including damage to the bases themselves.