A Department of Defense inspector general report says Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed dozens of US aircraft, at least 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones and hundreds of buildings and structures used by US forces during the conflict. The report covers the period from February 28 through June 30.
The Defense Department reported at least 11 US military personnel killed in action and 417 wounded in Iranian attacks through June 30. The report also says the United States faced munition shortages and supply-chain bottlenecks during the campaign.
Aircraft losses ranged from fighters to surveillance drones
The report records losses and damage involving frontline aircraft, tankers, helicopters and unmanned systems. At least four F-15E fighter jets were destroyed, including three lost to friendly fire over Kuwait on March 1 and one shot down during combat over Iran in April. All aircrews were recovered.
At least one F-35A was damaged, while at least one A-10 was shot down by Iranian fire. At least seven KC-135 aerial-refuelling tankers were damaged or destroyed; one crashed in Iraq on March 12 during a refuelling mission, killing its six crew members, and five others were damaged on the ground in Saudi Arabia. Related coverage: Five Iranian oil tankers destroyed after attacks on US warship.
Other reported losses or damage included an E-3 Sentry, an HH-60W helicopter, an MQ-4C Triton surveillance aircraft, four AH-6 helicopters destroyed after being deemed unrecoverable, an AH-64 Apache shot down near the Strait of Hormuz and an MH-60S helicopter that crashed in the Arabian Sea on July 1. The report also says as many as 30 MQ-9 Reapers were destroyed.
Bases and diplomatic facilities sustained extensive damage
Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US military installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan. The report did not provide a detailed breakdown of those military facility losses. Read the context: US military says tanker strikes followed Iranian missile attacks.
US diplomatic facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE suffered an estimated $184m in damage. The Iraq mission faced more than 600 attacks through the end of June, with costs of up to nearly $157m; damage affected the new US Consulate General compound in Erbil, the US Embassy in Baghdad and the Baghdad Diplomatic Support Center.
The US Embassy in Kuwait City suspended operations on March 5, with reported costs of nearly $14.75m. Two Iranian drones damaged the US Embassy in Riyadh on March 3, at an estimated cost of about $11.5m, while damage to a utility building at the US Consulate General in Dubai was estimated at nearly $120,000.
The report also describes pressure on supplies and logistics
The inspector general’s report says the United States was running short of parts of its munition stockpile and encountering bottlenecks in supply chains. That assessment conflicts with President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that US ammunition supplies were effectively unlimited and that weapons production was at a historic high.
The report says establishing adequate naval bases and support ports posed significant challenges because of host-nation access permissions and resupply complexities. It also cites 14- to 18-day sea-transit logistics cycles when support and infrastructure were shifted to Diego Garcia.
Related coverage:
No comments yet. Start the discussion.