An Associated Press investigation built on months of satellite imagery says Iran and its allied militias damaged or destroyed buildings at 26 American bases and sites across the Middle East in more than 115 strikes during the war — a scale of damage the Pentagon has never confirmed, and has not confirmed now.
The AP's method was to compare satellite images of the bases before and after the strikes, building by building. Its finding is that Iran did not fire at random: the strikes followed a sequence, hitting radar and early-warning systems first to blind each base, then aircraft hangars, then warehouses and troop housing. The news agency based its report on its own imagery analysis and on four regional officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some bases were hit again and again. Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was struck at least 30 times, according to the analysis. Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, was heavily damaged. The deadliest single strike in the AP's account fell on Port Shuaiba on March 1, where six American soldiers were killed. The damage the agency tallies runs to billions of dollars of equipment, including aircraft caught on the ground.
What the Pentagon has said falls well short of the AP's figures. U.S. Central Command declined to comment on the investigation. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell gave only a general statement that American bases are well protected and stronger than ever — he did not confirm the count of 26 bases, the 115 strikes, or the damage at any named base. The closest thing to an official match is a Congressional Research Service report which, the AP notes, partly matches the scale, recording damage to 15 U.S. aircraft.
For the Americans who serve at those bases — and for the families who wait for them at home — the difference between the two accounts is not academic. If the satellite record is right, U.S. personnel lived under repeated, accurate fire at bases whose protection was officially described in general terms; if it is wrong, a major news agency has published a badly overstated picture of a war's cost in taxpayer equipment. Either way, the verified facts Americans have been given by their own government remain the general statement — and the satellite images, which anyone can examine, say more than it does.
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