Official report reveals scale of U.S. losses in Iran war: hundreds of facilities and dozens of aircraft hit across eight countries
Euro Times / Stockholm
The first comprehensive inspector general report on Operation Epic Fury has revealed extensive damage and losses suffered by U.S. forces and facilities during the opening months of the war with Iran, including hundreds of buildings and facilities and dozens of aircraft across the Middle East.
According to the official report to Congress, covering operations through June 30, 2026, U.S. Central Command told the inspector general that Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and facilities at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.
The U.S. State Department also reported physical damage to diplomatic facilities in four countries, estimating those losses at about $184 million.
Aircraft and equipment losses
The report records damage or destruction involving dozens of U.S. manned and unmanned aircraft. Figures reviewed by U.S. Central Command included four F-15E fighters, an A-10 attack aircraft, several helicopters, an MQ-4C drone and as many as 30 MQ-9 Reapers among aircraft destroyed.
Other aircraft were damaged, including seven KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft. Specialized reporting based on the inspector general’s data also cited damage to an F-35A during the operations.
Equipment losses totaled about $3.7 billion during the reporting period, while the cost of munitions used reached roughly $22.3 billion. War-related spending during the first four months was estimated at about $33.4 billion, before a later Congressional Budget Office estimate put the broader cost at about $38 billion.
Pressure on U.S. munitions stockpiles
The inspector general warned of significant pressure on some U.S. munitions inventories, pointing to strategic shortfalls in some stockpiles and bottlenecks in the defense industrial base’s ability to replace expended weapons. The report highlighted constraints involving solid rocket motors, explosives, propellants and specialized industrial capacity.
The Defense Department, however, has maintained that U.S. forces retain the capabilities and munitions required to carry out assigned missions, reflecting a difference between the inspector general’s assessment of pressure on inventories and Pentagon statements on readiness.
More than 50,000 U.S. personnel
More than 50,000 U.S. service members participated in the operation. The report recorded 417 U.S. personnel injured through June 30.
U.S. commanders also had to adjust logistics and supply routes as facilities across the region came under attack. U.S. Transportation Command carried out more than 1,500 missions in support of the operation, at a cost of about $2.4 billion through the end of June.
The report is the first broad official assessment by a U.S. oversight body of the material and logistical losses sustained during the war with Iran.
Sources: U.S. Department of Defense Office of Inspector General – Operation Epic Fury; USNI News.
