Photos show widespread damage at US sites from Iranian attacks

Images showing widespread damage to multiple US sites in the Middle East from Iranian strikes have been obtained by the BBC's US partner CBS.

The photos, provided by active military personnel, show a severed radar jet, flattened trailers and severely damaged buildings.

The undated photos were taken at US bases and sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

One member of the military, who was not named by CBS, said: "This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public.

"We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."

The White House referred the BBC to US Central Command. Centcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The photos, which have not been independently verified by the BBC, were published the day after a report from the Pentagon's watchdog confirmed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in the Middle East have been damaged and destroyed by Iran.

One of the photos showed a destroyed Boeing E-3 Sentry at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia that has been ripped in half, its tail section crumpled into a tangled mess of metal.

While the photo is undated, BBC Verify previously confirmed a similar photo, apparently of the same radar aircraft in March.

The Boeing E-3 Awacs are used to detect and track potential targets at long ranges to provide an early warning of possible threats.

At the time, a US official told Reuters that 12 US personnel had been wounded, two of them seriously, in an Iranian attack on the air base.

A pair of undated images reportedly from Camp Beuhring, Kuwait, show crumpled trailers, and a large tent-like structure that had been reduced to shreds as smoke billowed from the site.

Another image shows a four-storey building damaged by an Iranian strike at Camp Arifjan, in Kuwait.

Damage to the site was reported in March, including on satellite communications hardware, though it is not clear whether this image is from the same attack.

Brian Katulis, a former national security official under both Democratic and Republican administrations, said that the damage visible in the images showed that "America had not adequately prepared its defences".

"And there is strong evidence that US adversaries like China and Russia may have helped Iran in targeting," added Katulis, now a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. "The Trump administration has done nothing to address these vulnerabilities."

The images were published on the heels of a report from the Pentagon's watchdog, which found Iranian strikes had "damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan during the conflict".

It also noted that equipment losses have totalled $3.7bn (£2.8bn). Overall, the US spent $33.4bn (£24.7bn) on the war up to 29 June, the report said.

In the months after the war began, "dozens of US aircraft were destroyed or damaged", the report continues.

The document lists several of the aircraft damaged, including five refuelling aircraft which were "damaged or destroyed on the ground in Saudi Arabia by Iranian munitions".

A separate report , externalfrom the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) notes that the E-3 aircraft is no longer in production and would have to be replaced with a more modern equivalent, the E-7.

The CBO noted that the E-3 aircraft alone costs $500m (£371m), and the estimated total cost of equipment lost in battle - including planes, drones and a terminal high altitude area defence system - amounts to $1.9b (£1.4b).

CBO said that its review was subject to "uncertainty" because the defence department did not respond to its requests for information, requiring the agency to rely on government databases and public reports.

Additionally, the extent of repairs and rebuilding that the US military plans to do remains unclear, according to the report.

Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute said that while "these costs show how the Trump administration burned through precious military resources without having much to show for it", the greater damage had been to broader US military readiness.

"The United States had to divert military assets from Asia to the Middle East, leaving America and its partners in Asia more exposed and vulnerable to China," he said.

"In addition, the depletion of US munitions makes Russia more willing to probe vulnerabilities with America's NATO allies and continue its aggressive war against Ukraine."

While the US has the financial resources to address the equipment losses, it is already facing budgetary problems and may not be able to do so fast enough to prepare for potential flare-ups in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world, he added.