Pentagon report highlights the extensive destruction of US military and diplomatic infrastructures due to Iranian strikes
The damage led to the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia becoming a sea logistics hub, stretching US military resupply cycles to 14-18 days, according to the report. More than 600 attacks against US facilities in Iraq were recorded, a senior State Department official said in May. Those attacks caused roughly $157 million in damage.
The special report by the defence department’s inspector general, covering February 28 to June 30, said Iranian strikes “damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan”. The strikes forced US central command to “shift personnel, assets and storage facilities” as Iranian forces and their proxy groups targeted American positions, the report said. As a result, “most medical evacuations have been carried out by ground … to local treatment facilities”, according to the watchdog. Damage to the US Navy’s regional hub in Bahrain created “significant challenges” in establishing “adequate naval bases and support ports”, the report said. Acting navy secretary Hung Cao recently said Iran “blew the hell out of” the facility. US secretary of state Marco Rubio said at the time that it hit a “parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building”.
The operational changes included withdrawing Army medical evacuation helicopters from Iraq and Kuwait. A drone also targeted the US consulate in Dubai, damaging a utility building.