Active‑duty U.S. service members anonymously supplied CBS News with photographs that show damage to American military facilities in the Middle East, the report said. The undated images appear to depict the aftermath of missile and drone strikes on U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, highlighting the reach of President Donald Trump’s campaign against Iran, now in its seventh month.
One photo from Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Al Kharj shows a four‑engine Boeing aircraft with a large section of its fuselage and radar dome missing, debris scattered across the runway. Another image from the same base shows a building gutted by a strike, with roof and walls torn away. Photos from Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait show a charred truck, a damaged three‑story building, a field of flattened trailers and a plume of smoke rising from a large tent‑like structure. The CBS News report quickly went viral, amassing more than one million views on X.
Retired Army officer and Missouri congressional candidate Fred Wellman said the images were shocking, while George Washington University professor Sina Azodi noted the catastrophic hit to the AWACS aircraft. Trump administration officials have repeatedly highlighted U.S. strikes on Iran, describing Iran as a “failed nation,” but have downplayed U.S. losses. According to Pentagon figures, 18 U.S. service members have been killed and more than 700 wounded, and the Congressional Budget Office estimates the war has cost the Pentagon about $38 billion, roughly $246 million per day.
The Pentagon’s inspector general confirmed in a report that Iranian strikes had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings at American bases across the Gulf region. NBC News and CBS News have cited billions in damage to U.S. intelligence infrastructure and the use of most stockpiled long‑range precision missiles. A July AP‑NORC survey found only 28 percent of Americans approve of Trump’s handling of the conflict, reflecting broad unpopularity of the war.
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