Iran has struck at least 20 American military facilities across the Middle East since the start of the war, according to a new satellite imagery and video analysis — significantly more than the United States has publicly acknowledged.
The attacks have targeted key bases across eight countries, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain and Oman, causing damage that analysts say runs into the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the analysis by BBC Verify – and some experts put the number of bases hit as high as 28.
Among the most significant losses are three Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — or THAAD — batteries, among the most sophisticated anti-missile systems in the American arsenal. The U.S. is known to operate only eight such batteries worldwide, each costing approximately $1 billion to manufacture, and a former senior Irish defense official told BBC Verify the batteries form the core of a “highly complex” regional defense network that cannot be “quickly or easily replaced.”
At Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia, satellite images show damaged refueling and surveillance aircraft, smoking craters and what analysts identified as a destroyed E-3 Sentry surveillance plane that could cost up to $700 million to replace and the report showed least 42 aircraft in total — including F-15s, F-35s, 24 MQ-9 Reaper drones and an A-10 attack plane — have been destroyed or damaged since February.
Analysts say Iran’s tactics evolved significantly as the conflict progressed, shifting from mass missile barrages designed to overwhelm defenses to smaller, precisely targeted strikes on high-value assets. Experts told BBC Verify that American forces “appear to have been guilty of a degree of early-war complacency” in failing to relocate aircraft as Iranian tactics sharpened.
The Pentagon has not disputed the BBC’s findings, with a defense official declining to comment citing “operational security.” The U.S. also requested that Planet, a major satellite imagery provider, impose an indefinite restriction on new images of Iran and much of the Middle East.
With the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire again under strain, analysts warn that depleted air defense stocks leave American bases across the Gulf increasingly vulnerable should fighting resume.
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