Missile shortages, damage to US facilities: Pentagon watchdog issues first review of Iran war

The Pentagon’s official watchdog released a special report about the Iran war on Monday, representing the Defense Department’s first formal accounting of US equipment and facility losses from the conflict.

The inspector general, citing its communications with US Central Command, said that “Iranian strikes damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan” during the war’s first months. The report, which covers the start of the war on February 28 through June 30, also acknowledged the depletion of key US munition stockpiles .

CNN previously reported the destruction of critical US assets such as missile defense radar installations in the war’s early days.

Those Iranian strikes contributed to significant changes in how US troops have traditionally operated in the region, the report said. CENTCOM “shifted personnel, assets and storage facilities” as they came under attack from Iran and its proxy forces.

Some of the moves included the withdrawal of Army medical evacuation helicopters from Iraq and Kuwait, the report said, meaning “most medical evacuations have been carried out by ground … to local treatment facilities.”

The destruction of the Navy’s regional hub in Bahrain, which acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao recently said Iran “blew the hell out of,” added to “significant challenges” with establishing “adequate naval bases and support ports,” the watchdog said. That led to the distant Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia becoming a sea logistics hub, stretching resupply cycles to 14-to-18 days in length.

The resulting intermittent shortages of supplies and interruption to the military’s regional mail system compounded the difficulties US sailors faced during record-long deployments to the Persian Gulf to support airstrikes on Iran and, in recent months, blockade its ports.

The changes to the military’s Middle East footprint may become permanent — military and intelligence community officials have quietly discussed the prospect of lasting cuts to US personnel and facilities in the region when the war eventually concludes, six sources previously told CNN .

The report, produced in collaboration with the State Department’s and US Agency for International Development’s inspector general offices, also covered US diplomatic activities in the region.

Damage by Iran to US diplomatic facilities in the Middle East caused roughly $184 million in damage, the report said. (Cost estimates for damage to US military sites were not provided.)

As CNN reported throughout the months of heavy fighting, those facilities in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates came under assault by Iran and its proxies.

In early March, the US Embassy in Riyadh was hit by two Iranian drones, causing extensive damage, including to the CIA station on the compound.

Also in early March, a drone targeted the US consulate in Dubai, damaging a utility building, according to the report. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the time the drone had hit a “parking lot adjacent to the chancellery building.”

The US Embassy in Kuwait suspended operations entirely in March after being struck and damaged by Iranian drones. It resumed emergency operations for Americans in late June.

There were more than 600 attacks against US facilities in Iraq, a senior State Department official said in May. Those attacks caused the most costly damage — roughly $157 million.

Between February 23 and June 30, according to the report, up to 3,500 diplomatic personnel were out of the region as the majority of US posts were on authorized or ordered departure.

Within weeks of the start of the war in February, as US diplomatic facilities across the region came under attack, the department put Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on ordered departure, meaning that non-emergency personnel and all family members had to leave. Authorized departure means non-emergency personnel could choose to leave.

Most posts remain on “restricted operations,” which is not a return to normal staffing and instead is put in place after six months of ordered departure. Some diplomats have begun returning to the region, as have some family members.

Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.

五角大楼的官方监督机构周一发布了一份关于伊朗战争的特别报告，这是国防部首次正式统计美国在冲突中遭受的装备和设施损失。

监察长援引与美国中央司令部的沟通记录称，在战争初期几个月里，“伊朗的袭击破坏并摧毁了美国在科威特、巴林、卡塔尔、阿联酋、沙特阿拉伯、伊拉克、阿曼和约旦的基地数百栋建筑物和构筑物”。这份涵盖2月28日至6月30日战争爆发期间的报告还承认，美国关键弹药储备遭到消耗。

CNN此前曾报道，战争初期美国的一些重要资产，例如导弹防御雷达设施，遭到破坏。

报告称，伊朗的袭击导致美军在该地区的传统作战方式发生了重大变化。随着伊朗及其代理部队的攻击，中央司令部“转移了人员、资产和仓储设施”。

报告称，其中一些举措包括从伊拉克和科威特撤出陆军医疗后送直升机，这意味着“大多数医疗后送都是通过地面进行……送往当地的治疗机构”。

监督机构表示，海军在巴林的区域枢纽被摧毁（代理海​​军部长洪操近日称伊朗将其“炸得粉碎”），加剧了建立“足够的海军基地和支援港口”的“重大挑战”。这导致遥远的印度洋岛屿迪戈加西亚成为海上后勤枢纽，补给周期延长至14至18天。

由此导致的间歇性物资短缺和军方区域邮件系统的中断，加剧了美国水兵在波斯湾创纪录的长期部署期间所面临的困难，这些部署旨在支持对伊朗的空袭，并在最近几个月封锁伊朗港口。

据 CNN 此前报道，六位消息人士透露，军方和情报部门官员曾私下讨论过，当战争最终结束时，美国在该地区人员和设施可能会永久性削减。这些变化可能会成为永久性的。

该报告由美国国务院和美国国际开发署监察长办公室合作编写，还涵盖了美国在该地区的外交活动。

报告称，伊朗对美国在中东的外交设施造成的损失约为1.84亿美元。（报告未提供对美国军事设施的损失估算。）

正如 CNN 在数月激烈战斗中报道的那样，位于伊拉克、科威特、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国的这些设施遭到了伊朗及其代理人的袭击。

3月初，美国驻利雅得大使馆遭到两架伊朗无人机袭击，造成大范围破坏，包括使馆内的中央情报局站点也遭到破坏。

报告还指出，3月初，一架无人机袭击了美国驻迪拜领事馆，损坏了一栋公用设施建筑。美国国务卿马可·卢比奥当时表示，无人机击中了“领事馆大楼旁边的停车场”。

美国驻科威特大使馆在3月份遭到伊朗无人机袭击和破坏后全面暂停运作。6月下旬，大使馆恢复了为美国公民提供的紧急服务。

美国国务院一位高级官员5月份表示，伊拉克境内针对美国设施的袭击超过600起。这些袭击造成的损失最为惨重，约为1.57亿美元。

报告显示，2月23日至6月30日期间，多达3500名外交人员离开该地区，因为大多数美国驻外机构都已获得授权或奉命撤离。

战争爆发后几周内，随着美国在该地区的外交机构遭到袭击，美国国务院下令巴林、伊拉克、约旦、卡塔尔、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国的人员必须撤离，这意味着非紧急人员及其所有家属都必须离开。而获准撤离则意味着非紧急人员可以选择离开。

大多数驻外机构仍处于“限制运作”状态，这并非恢复正常人员配置，而是在强制撤离六个月后采取的措施。一些外交官及其家属已开始返回该地区。

戴维斯·温基在CNN的工作得到了Outrider基金会和新闻资助伙伴（JFP）的合作支持。CNN对报道拥有完全的编辑控制权。