Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the United States holds the upper hand in its escalating war with Iran.

Then came an uncomfortable reminder of just how dangerous the conflict has become.

Multiple American military aircraft were damaged after Iranian strikes hit Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, including roughly eight F-15 fighter jets and an A-10 Thunderbolt that was reportedly left missing a wing.

The F-15s suffered relatively light damage and have already been returned to service, according to people familiar with the incident who spoke to CBS News.

But the A-10 — the legendary attack aircraft better known as the “Warthog” — was hit far more seriously.

Its long-term fate remains unclear.

Most importantly, no U.S. deaths were reported in this particular barrage.

Still, the images emerging from the attack tell a larger story.

Six months into a conflict that has spread across the Persian Gulf and neighboring countries, even heavily defended American bases are proving vulnerable.

And the military and economic costs are continuing to climb.

Muwaffaq Salti Air Base has become a major hub for U.S. operations in the region, hosting aircraft used in the campaign against Iran.

That made it an obvious target as Washington and Tehran exchanged another round of attacks this week.

The latest escalation began after the United States said it struck five Iranian oil tankers following an attempted Iranian attack on American naval forces.

Iran responded.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed strikes against ships in the Gulf as well as the U.S.-used base in Jordan.

Jordanian forces said they intercepted 18 Iranian missiles during the barrage, but some clearly made it through.

Eight F-15s were damaged.

One A-10 took a much more punishing hit.

The incident is particularly striking because the F-15 remains one of the most recognizable and valuable aircraft in the American arsenal.

A group of eight represents military hardware worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

The damage was apparently limited enough for those jets to return to service — an important detail amid the dramatic headlines — but the fact that Iran managed to strike aircraft on the ground at all is a significant reminder of the risks confronting U.S. forces.

The A-10’s condition appears more serious.

Designed during the Cold War for close-air support, the aircraft is famous for its heavily armored construction and enormous GAU-8 rotary cannon.

The Air Force stopped producing new A-10s decades ago.

That means replacing a badly damaged aircraft is not as simple as ordering another one from a production line.

And the Warthog has been more than a museum-piece weapon in this conflict.

A-10s have been deployed against Iranian maritime targets around the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping passage at the center of the latest fighting.

The battle over that waterway has consequences far beyond the military.

Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies traveled through Hormuz.

Those flows have been badly disrupted.

Reuters analysis this week found that Gulf exports remain significantly below pre-war levels despite extraordinary efforts to move tankers through the region with tracking systems switched off.

Brent crude climbed above $100 a barrel Wednesday as markets reacted to renewed attacks.

That means the war is increasingly reaching Americans far from the battlefield.

Higher crude prices eventually feed into gasoline, diesel, transportation and manufacturing costs.

And with the November midterm elections approaching, that economic fallout is becoming politically dangerous for Trump.

The president acknowledged Wednesday that he does not expect the conflict to end before voters go to the polls.

“I think the war’s going to end immediately after the election,” Trump told reporters.

He accused Tehran of deliberately prolonging the fighting in hopes of hurting Republicans politically.

Iran, Trump argued, wants American voters to elect politicians who would take a softer approach toward Tehran.

That remains Trump’s interpretation of Iran’s motives.

But whatever Tehran’s political calculations may be, the battlefield reality is becoming harder to ignore.

The United States is expending expensive defensive weapons at a rapid pace.

CBS reported that U.S. forces in Jordan fired more than 30 Patriot interceptors during Iranian attacks.

Those missiles are enormously costly and take time to replace.

The broader war has already intensified concerns about depleted U.S. ammunition inventories and the strain created by months of sustained combat.

And modern warfare has exposed an uncomfortable economic imbalance.

Relatively inexpensive drones or missiles can sometimes force a military to respond with defensive interceptors costing millions of dollars each.

That problem grows dramatically more serious when the conflict lasts months rather than days.

Trump initially presented American military strength as overwhelming.

Yet neither side has been able to impose a decisive end to the war.

Instead, the conflict has evolved into cycles of attack and retaliation.

American forces strike Iranian ships or infrastructure.

Iran responds against bases and vessels.

Energy markets react.

The Strait of Hormuz remains unstable.

And each escalation creates another opportunity for a single missile or drone to produce far more serious consequences.

The damaged aircraft in Jordan therefore represent more than an expensive repair bill.

They are evidence of the vulnerability that comes with a prolonged regional war.

Eight F-15s were fortunate enough to return to service.

No Americans were reportedly killed in this specific attack.

The A-10’s future remains uncertain.

Those facts prevent the incident from being described as a catastrophic military defeat.

But they also make something else unmistakable.

After months of promises about American dominance, Iran has demonstrated that it can still reach valuable U.S. military assets.

And with oil once again above $100, weapons inventories under pressure and November rapidly approaching, Trump is confronting the part of war that political slogans cannot control:

The longer it continues, the greater the chance that the next strike will be much worse.