A deployed service member says the public hasn’t seen the real damage from Iranian strikes. Now some photos have come to light

Photographs published by CBS News on Tuesday offered a look at damage to several U.S. military sites in the Middle East following Iranian missile and drone attacks. 

CBS said the undated images came from active-duty service members who requested anonymity because military rules limit their ability to speak with the media.

A deployed service member told CBS News, “This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public.” That service member also said, “We’re standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.” The images showed conditions at facilities in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Images from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were described as showing damaged aircraft, trailers, and buildings

One photograph from Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia captured a Boeing E-3 Sentry after a strike. CBS News said the rear of the four-engine aircraft took a direct hit, the tail came apart from the burned fuselage, and the area that held the rotating radar used for airborne intelligence collection was damaged.

Pictures from the same Saudi base showed empty buildings and barracks beside cement T-walls that appeared untouched. The report said those T-walls had been viewed as key protection against grenades and mortars, but they were described as offering little help against an attack from the air.

Separate photos were taken at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. That site is a major staging point for U.S. Army ground forces, armored vehicles, and some aircraft, located in a remote desert stretch far northwest of Kuwait City. Those pictures included wrecked trailers and a burned-out vehicle.

Another photograph showed a building with heavy damage at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. The same service member challenged the wording used by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after the March 1 attack on the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait, an incident that killed six American troops. Hegseth had referred to “squirters.” 

The service member said, “These are not ‘squirters’ getting through.” The service member also said, “We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed.”

President Donald Trump last week dismissed reports that Iranian strikes had damaged multiple U.S. military aircraft at an air base in Jordan. The U.S. military has taken direct action in the region, such as when it launched airstrikes on Iran following a strike on Jordanian bases that killed two soldiers.  Speaking to NewsNation, he said there was “no damage” and “no nothing.”

A Defense Department inspector general report released this week on the war in Iran cited “equipment losses” of up to $3.7 billion, including nearly 60 aircraft. The report details the scale of destruction across the region, a situation that extends to reconstruction efforts, as the U.S. reportedly plans to use Iranian assets to help Gulf allies repair damage.  

CBS News said the inspector general, in a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, noted that U.S. Central Command had reported Iranian strikes on U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan.