FactBox: What the U.S. Exactly Lost in Iran War?

Iran’s strikes on U.S. military sites revealed a wider scale of American losses than initially acknowledged, with congressional and satellite-based assessments pointing to damaged aircraft, disrupted bases, and hundreds of casualties. The reported toll underscores how the war’s cost extended beyond direct combat, exposing vulnerabilities across the U.S. military network in the Middle East.

1. Personnel casualties

Since the start of the war on February 28, seven U.S. service members had died in strikes on U.S. facilities in the region: six in Kuwait and one in Saudi Arabia. It also reported more than 400 U.S. troops injured by late April, with at least 12 classified as seriously injured.

The CRS-related reporting adds another fatal aircraft incident: a KC-135 refueling tanker crashed in friendly airspace in Iraq, killing all six crew members aboard. Stars and Stripes says the cause remained under investigation, with early reporting suggesting possible evasive maneuvering amid anti-aircraft threats, while CENTCOM disputed some early accounts.

2. Aircraft losses and damage

According to reporting on the Congressional Research Service assessment, the U.S. lost or sustained damage to at least 42 military aircraft during Operation Epic Fury. The list includes manned aircraft, tankers, surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and drones.

Breakdown reported from the CRS assessment:

3. Specific aircraft incidents

Three F-15E Strike Eagles were reportedly shot down by friendly fire over Kuwait. Another F-15E was shot down over Iran in April, triggering search-and-rescue operations.

The CRS-related reports say the U.S. also lost an A-10 Thunderbolt II and two MC-130J Commando II aircraft, which were intentionally destroyed on the ground in Iran during rescue operations after the F-15E shootdown. An HH-60W Jolly Green II rescue helicopter was damaged by small-arms fire.

Five KC-135 tankers parked at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia were reportedly damaged in an Iranian missile and drone attack. A separate KC-135 crashed over western Iraq, killing six crew members, while another tanker involved in the incident made an emergency landing.

The Washington Post separately reported damage or destruction of an E-3 Sentry command-and-control aircraft and a refueling tanker at Prince Sultan Air Base.

4. Base and infrastructure damage

The Washington Post’s satellite-imagery investigation found at least 228 damaged or destroyed U.S. military assets across 15 U.S. military sites in the Middle East. Its count was: 217 structures and 11 pieces of equipment.

The damaged/destroyed assets included hangars, barracks, warehouses, fuel depots, aircraft, radar systems, communications equipment, and air-defense equipment. The Post said this was based on more than 100 high-resolution satellite images released by Iranian state-affiliated media, verified against Copernicus and Planet imagery where available.

5. Main sites hit

The Post said more than half of the damage it reviewed occurred at four locations: U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters / Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Camp Arifjan in Kuwait, and Camp Buehring in Kuwait.

Other reported affected sites included al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Isa and Riffa air bases in Bahrain, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and two sites in the United Arab Emirates.

6. Air-defense, radar, communications, and fuel losses

The Washington Post reported damage to a satellite communications site at al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar; Patriot missile-defense equipment at Riffa and Isa air bases in Bahrain and Ali al-Salem Air Base in Kuwait; a satellite dish at Naval Support Activity Bahrain; a power plant at Camp Buehring; and five fuel-storage bladder sites across three bases.

It also identified previously reported damage or destruction of radomes at Camp Arifjan, Ali al-Salem, and the U.S. 5th Fleet headquarters; THAAD radars and equipment at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and two UAE sites; and a second satellite-communications site at al-Udeid.

7. Operational and financial cost

The CRS-linked reporting says Pentagon acting comptroller Jules Hurst testified that the estimated cost of military operations in Iran had reached about $29 billion. Stars and Stripes notes that this figure included equipment repair and replacement costs but did not account for damage to U.S. bases in the Middle East from Iranian retaliatory attacks.