Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of structures and pieces of equipment at US military sites across the Middle East during the war , according to satellite imagery analysed by The Washington Post .
The level of destruction across US bases and sites hosting American forces appears to be far larger than what was publicly acknowledged by Washington, the US newspaper said.
According to the publication, at least 228 installations and pieces of equipment, including hangars, barracks, fuel depots, aircraft, and key radar, communications and air defence equipment, were obliterated or damaged in the Iranian attacks.
Tehran began hitting these sites across the region when the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on 28 February, dragging much of the Middle East into a wider war which is now largely on hold as a result of an April ceasefire .
Iranian drones and missile slammed into US military sites across Arab Gulf states , Iraq, and Jordan.
The threat of Iranian airstrikes made it too dangerous for staff to remain at these bases at normal levels, prompting US commanders to move personnel out of the range of Iran’s fire at the start of the war, The Washington Post cited officials as saying.
The US suffered human losses as well as extensive material damage. At least seven servicemembers died in the Iranian strikes, most in Kuwait, and more than 400 troops were injured as of late April, the US military has said.
"Shortly after the war began, America's two largest satellite imagery providers, Planet and Vantor, bowed to government requests to withhold imagery of the region while the conflict continued," The Washington Post journalist Evan Hill wrote in a thread on X , sharing satellite images of the destruction.
For the analysis — one of the first detailed public assessments of damage to US facilities in the region — The Washington Post examined more than 100 high-resolution satellite images released by Iran. The newspaper verified 109 of them by cross-checking with lower-resolution imagery from the European Union’s Copernicus satellite system, as well as high-resolution images from Planet Labs where available.
Nineteen images were excluded from the damage assessment because comparisons with Copernicus data were inconclusive.
"No Iranian imagery was found to have been manipulated," The Washington Post said.
According to the newspaper, a US official said bases in Bahrain and Kuwait were two of the worst hit, likely because attacks on Iran were launched from there.
Besides the US military installations, the Gulf state that was hit by Iran the hardest overall was the United Arab Emirates .
Throughout the war, Iranian media frequently published images of the damages at US sites caused by Iranian attacks. The Post said experts who reviewed the publication’s analysis said the US military had underestimated Iran’s firing capabilities, leaving some bases with lesser protection.
A recent CNN investigation revealed that at least 16 US military sites across eight Middle Eastern countries were damaged in the war. Some officials in the Gulf have criticised the deployment of the US military in the region, saying such a presence has become a burden rather than a strategic asset .
Iran and its network of allies in the region made up of several armed groups have repeatedly called on Washington to pull its troops out of the Middle East.