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September 16, 2026

Active-duty U.S. service members have leaked photographs to CBS News showing extensive, previously undisclosed damage to American military bases across the Middle East from Iranian missile and drone strikes, with troops saying the destruction has not been fully communicated to the American public.

“This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public,” one deployed service member told CBS News. Another described the experience of enduring the strikes in blunt terms: “We’re standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.” A third, referencing Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s characterization of attackers getting through as “squirters” following a strike on the Port of Shuaiba that killed six U.S. troops, pushed back on that framing directly: “We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed.”

What the photos show

Published by CBS News on September 15, the undated images — provided by service members who requested anonymity due to military restrictions on disclosing information about the attacks — depict the aftermath of strikes at multiple installations:

• At Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, one photo shows a Boeing E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control aircraft after a direct hit severed its tail from its charred fuselage, destroying the section that supported its rotating radar. The E-3, valued at between $270 million and $300 million, was one of six such aircraft stationed at the base and one of just 16 in the entire U.S. Air Force fleet prior to the strikes. Other images from the base show damaged buildings and barracks left hollowed out, standing next to T-wall barriers that proved ineffective against the aerial assault.
• At Camp Buehring, a major U.S. Army staging and logistics post in Kuwait, photos show flattened, rubble-strewn buildings, destroyed trailers, and a burned-out vehicle.
• At Camp Arifjan, another U.S. Army installation in Kuwait, a photo shows a building with blown-out walls and windows.

Official confirmation

The leaked photos align with a report released this week by the Defense Department’s Inspector General — a first-of-its-kind mandatory submission to Congress — which disclosed that U.S. equipment losses from the conflict have reached as much as $3.7 billion, including nearly 60 aircraft. According to the report, U.S. Central Command confirmed Iranian strikes have hit American bases across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan, damaging or destroying hundreds of buildings and structures. The report also identified shortages in advanced weapons inventories and bottlenecks in the U.S. defence industrial base.

The disclosures follow a pattern of official statements downplaying damage that the leaked material appears to contradict. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao told The Epoch Times last week that Iran “blew the hell out of Bahrain,” while President Donald Trump told NewsNation the same week that reports of Iranian strikes damaging multiple U.S. aircraft at a base in Jordan were false, saying there was “no damage” and “no nothing.”

The Pentagon did not respond to CBS News’ request for comment on the leaked photographs. Since the conflict — referred to by U.S. officials as Operation Epic Fury — began on February 28, 2026, with a joint U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, at least 13 U.S. service members have been killed and roughly 303 wounded, according to figures previously reported by CENTCOM.