A newly published satellite review found that more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iran-backed forces damaged or destroyed structures at 26 military bases and other sites holding U.S. equipment through August. The AP analysis, released Saturday, substantially expands the public picture of a conflict whose effects on American bases have often been disclosed only in fragments.

The finding is not an official Pentagon damage count. The Associated Press said it compared satellite imagery from multiple providers and interviewed four regional officials with direct knowledge or briefings about the damage. Its 26-site tally goes beyond an earlier Post review that independently verified at least 228 damaged structures or pieces of equipment at 15 U.S. military sites using high-resolution imagery available through mid-April.

Together, those investigations indicate that Iranian retaliation was broader and more systematic than individual strike announcements suggested. They also align with the Pentagon inspector general’s first quarterly official report on Operation Epic Fury, which said Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and structures at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan through June 30.

Radars were hit before bases absorbed wider damage

The new review’s most consequential conclusion concerns targeting sequence. It found that Iran initially struck early-warning radars and other systems designed to detect or defeat incoming attacks, then broadened its campaign to hangars, communications equipment, fuel infrastructure, troop accommodations and other facilities that make bases operational.

That pattern is consistent with the earlier Washington Post imagery review, which documented hits on radar, communications and air-defense equipment as well as barracks, hangars and fuel sites. At Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, the AP counted at least 30 strikes and damage to at least 15 aircraft hangars. At Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, imagery showed more than 30 structures damaged or destroyed between March and August.

Some of the most expensive losses involved radar systems that are difficult to replace. The AP reported that a radar destroyed in Jordan was one of only 13 of its type held by the U.S. Army and cost about $500 million, based on manufacturer and budget records. Another major radar in Qatar was significantly damaged, although the review could not determine whether it was destroyed.

The Pentagon did not provide a site-by-site rebuttal. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told the AP that U.S. forces and bases remain well protected and that troops in the region have what they need. U.S. Central Command declined to specify damage, citing operational security.

The cost remains incomplete

The damage matters beyond the physical structures. Two regional officials told the AP that the United States moved aircraft, air-defense systems, communications gear and other assets out of the Persian Gulf. The earlier Post investigation similarly reported that commanders moved personnel away from bases judged too exposed to Iranian fire. Those movements suggest that the attacks altered how the U.S. military uses its regional footprint, even when operations continued.

Public cost estimates remain incomplete because the military has not released a comprehensive value for damaged bases. A recent CENTCOM estimate obtained by CBS News put the war’s military cost at at least $47.1 billion by mid-October, including operations, expended munitions and lost equipment, but excluding damage to installations. Five senators said CENTCOM provided a base-damage estimate during a classified briefing and demanded its public release in an oversight letter that seeks answers by Nov. 2.

The inspector general’s report offered one narrower figure: Iranian strikes caused an estimated $184 million in damage to U.S. diplomatic facilities in four countries. It also warned that the war produced strategic munitions shortfalls and industrial-base bottlenecks, tying the damage question to a larger readiness problem.

Why the disclosure matters now

The new tally arrives as Washington and Tehran publicly leave open the possibility of renewed fighting. President Donald Trump said Friday that he expected the war to end soon but did not explain how, while reiterating that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon, according to Reuters. Iranian leaders have warned of retaliation if U.S. strikes resume.

The evidence does not establish that every damaged site was rendered unusable, nor does it reveal the classified cost estimate given to lawmakers. It does show, across a new satellite review, an earlier independent investigation and the Pentagon watchdog’s own accounting, that fixed U.S. infrastructure absorbed repeated attacks across a wide regional network.

What happens next will turn on two unresolved questions: whether the administration renews strikes after the midterm election, and whether the Pentagon tells Congress and the public which bases it intends to rebuild, relocate or abandon. Until those answers emerge, the new 115-strike count is best read as a minimum verified picture of damage—not a final ledger.