Iran attacks damage 20 US military sites since start of war, satellite images show
Satellite imagery and video footage analyzed by BBC Verify indicates that Iran has inflicted damage on 20 US military installations since hostilities began, a tally suggesting the scale of Tehran's counterattacks exceeds what US authorities have publicly disclosed. Since late February, Iran has struck key military assets across eight countries in the Middle East, destroying or damaging advanced air defense systems, refueling aircraft, and radars worth millions of dollars. The attacks targeted both American bases and jointly used facilities, serving as retaliation for US-Israeli operations in Iran and Lebanon over the preceding three months.
Scope of Iranian strikes
The Pentagon reports it has engaged over 13,000 targets in Iran since launching Operation Epic Fury. Iran's supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, has sought to emphasize his military's capability to strike US facilities. In a statement on Tuesday, he declared that the Middle East is no longer a "safe place" for American bases. While the White House has repeatedly asserted that Iran's military has been nearly eliminated, analysts contend that the visible damage at US installations suggests Tehran's counterattacks have been both more precise and more extensive than American officials have previously acknowledged. A US defense official declined to comment on BBC Verify's findings, citing "operational security reasons."
Restrictions on satellite imagery
The US government has moved to limit independent satellite analysis of the conflict by requesting Planet, a major imagery provider, to impose an "indefinite" ban on new images of Iran and most of the Middle East. The company justified the restriction by stating it wanted to ensure its images were not used "by adversarial actors to target allied and Nato-partner personnel and civilians." BBC Verify has relied on satellite imagery from other international providers, supplemented by older Planet images, to track the damage from Iranian attacks.
Damaged bases and equipment
The facilities struck are located in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, and Oman. Some analysts estimate the actual number of hit bases could be as high as 28. Among the valuable hardware damaged were three state-of-the-art anti-ballistic missile battery systems at Al Ruwais Airbase and Al Sader Airbase in the UAE, and at Muwaffaq Salti Airbase in Jordan. The US is known to operate only eight Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries worldwide, each costing approximately $1 billion (£766 million) to manufacture. A single battery requires a crew of about 100 troops to operate, and each interceptor it fires costs around $12.7 million per round. Vice-Admiral Mark Mellett, former head of the Irish Defence Forces, told BBC Verify that these batteries form the core of a "highly complex" regional defense network that cannot be "quickly or easily replaced."
Additional damage across the region
Expert analysis of satellite images shows that Iranian strikes have also heavily hit US refueling and surveillance aircraft at Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia, with damaged aircraft and smoking craters clearly visible. A MAIAR analyst identified one aircraft as an E-3 Sentry surveillance plane. US media reported that replacing the aircraft could cost up to $700 million. Elsewhere, Iranian attacks have targeted Ali Al Salem Airbase and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Analysts at MAIAR identified destroyed fuel storage bunkers, aircraft hangars, and troop accommodation in satellite images of Ali Al Salem, which was struck multiple times over the course of the conflict. At Camp Arifjan, the defense intelligence company Janes identified extensive damage to satellite communications hardware. The overall cost of damage to US facilities is difficult to quantify, but a May estimate by the Pentagon placed the total cost of Operation Epic Fury at $29 billion, with much of that sum likely allocated to "repair or replacement costs for equipment" destroyed in the conflict. Democrats say this is likely an understatement.
Context
The current Iranian campaign mirrors aspects of previous asymmetric conflicts in the region, such as the 2019 attacks on Saudi Aramco facilities, which temporarily halved the kingdom's oil production and exposed vulnerabilities in US-provided air defenses. Additionally, strikes on US bases in Iraq and Syria by Iran-backed militias in 2023-2024, though smaller in scale, demonstrated Tehran's willingness to target American military infrastructure indirectly. The damage documented by BBC Verify suggests a significant escalation in both the precision and geographic reach of Iranian offensive operations.