US covers up extent of damaged bases from Iranian attacks

Iran inflicted damage on US bases and equipment in West Asia that is “far worse than publicly acknowledged”.

According to a new NBC News report, the damage is expected to cost the US billions of dollars to repair.

The report said that Iran hit dozens of targets. This included aircraft hangars, satellite communications, warehouses, command headquarters, runways, high-end radar systems, and dozens of aircrafts.

The Canary previously reported on satellite images which showed Iran had struck key missile interceptors in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

However, the extent of the damage is now even clearer.

In the first few days after the US and Israel launched their illegal and unprovoked attacks on Iran, an Iranian F-5 fighter jet bombed US Camp Beuhring in Kuwait. This was despite the base having air defences. It was the:

first time an enemy fixed-wing aircraft has stuck an American military base in years

Essentially, this means that Iranian jets flew straight through US air defences into Kuwait — and presumably Bahrain and the UAE — to drop bombs on US bases. The last time something like this happened was the Korean War. 

Until now, the only confirmation we had from US officials was a CENTCOM press release on March 2. It stated:

During active combat—that included attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones — the U.S. Air Force fighter jets were mistakenly shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses.

‘Serious damage’

An assessment from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), reviewed by NBC News for its exclusive report, shows that Iran hit over 100 targets at 11 different bases across 7 Gulf countries.

The attacks hit US and host-nation bases in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

At the 5th Fleet headquarters base in Bahrain, there are seven reports of damage to satellite communications, radar protection structures, and large warehouses. This includes the US Navy’s headquarters building.

Similar damage was reported at Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait. Iran struck multiple hangars and warehouses and destroyed a runway.

The assessment also shows that a munitions storage facility at a military base in Erbil, northern Iraq, was damaged. Iran also destroyed a runway at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

A senior figure at AEI told NBC News that he estimated the cost of repairing the damage is more than $5bn. However, that figure does not account for some of the radar and weapons systems, aircraft and other equipment destroyed.

Iran decolonising West Asia

But what does the US expect when it launched an illegal and unprovoked attack on behalf of a genocidal terrorist state and assassinated the Supreme Leader of Iran in the process?

Iran targeted the military infrastructure of the US and its key allies in the region. In comparison, the US and Israel targeted hospitals, healthcare workers, schools, and civilian areas. Only the latter constitutes war crimes.

Is Iran single-handedly ending US imperialism in West Asia?

Operation Epstein-Fury has been a disaster from start to finish. Trump decided that bombing Iran was the best way to cover up his crimes against children, and now Iran has bombed 11 different US bases and caused over $5bn worth of damage. That’s Karma for you.

CENTCOM and the Department of Defense may have been trying to hide the true scale of the damage to US bases. But satellite images don’t lie — unlike the men in charge.

Feature image via Guardian News/YouTube

By HG

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