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A Pentagon inspector general report released Monday found Iranian strikes caused an estimated $184 million in damage to US diplomatic facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Getting into it: The 44-page report, compiled jointly by inspectors general from the Pentagon, State Department and USAID, covers April 1 through June 30. Iraq took the worst of it at more than $157 million, with the US mission there hit by more than 600 Iranian attacks. Kuwait sustained more than $14 million in damage, Saudi Arabia $11.5 million and the UAE $125,000.
The military damage is broader than the administration has acknowledged. The report counts more than 50 US aircraft hit, among them four F-15Es, seven KC-135 tankers, four AH-6 helicopters and at least 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones worth about $30 million apiece. Some of those KC-135s were parked on the tarmac in Saudi Arabia when Iran hit them. An F-35A was also hit by enemy fire, the first combat damage ever recorded on the jet.
Iranian fire has damaged or leveled hundreds of buildings on US bases in eight countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The naval logistics hub in Bahrain was hit hard enough that Central Command had to shift some supply routes to other sites, including Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.
The munitions picture is its own problem. The conflict “has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply,” the report said, pointing to pressure on advanced missiles and interceptors. Defense analysts have estimated contractors could need roughly three years to rebuild stockpiles to prewar levels. Before the report’s release, Trump posted that the US “is producing more Exquisite and Elite Weapons than at any time in our History.”
The cost figures keep moving. The Pentagon put the war at $33.4 billion through June 29, not counting infrastructure repairs. Hegseth told senators in July it had reached $37.5 billion, a number some experts called low. The State Department reported $113 million in its own costs as of June 2, with close to $80 million of that going to evacuate roughly 9,000 Americans from the region, and said the figure will likely rise as assessments continue. Eighteen service members have been killed and about 800 wounded, with roughly 50,000 troops still deployed and no exit strategy announced.
This comes as Trump denied reports last week that Iranian strikes damaged aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, where an A-10 had a wing torn off, and eight F-15s were lightly damaged. “None whatsoever. No damage. No nothing,” he told NewsNation.
