Newly leaked photographs are offering one of the clearest looks yet at the physical toll Iran’s attacks have taken on U.S. military installations across the Middle East.
The images show damaged aircraft, shattered buildings, wrecked vehicles and destroyed living quarters at multiple American positions.
And they arrive at a politically sensitive moment.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly emphasized the damage inflicted on Iran during the months-long conflict.
But the new images make another reality impossible to overlook:
American forces have also taken significant losses.
CBS News obtained the photographs from active-duty service members who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to release them.
One deployed service member described the destruction bluntly.
“This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public,” the service member told CBS.
The photographs show damage at major U.S. facilities in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, including Prince Sultan Air Base, Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan.
One of the most dramatic images shows a U.S. Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft at Prince Sultan Air Base.
The rear section of the aircraft appears devastated.
Its tail is severed from the fuselage, and the aircraft’s distinctive radar system — used for airborne surveillance and command-and-control missions — was rendered unusable.
CBS previously verified that an E-3 was destroyed during an Iranian strike on the Saudi base and reported that 10 U.S. service members were wounded in that attack, including two who suffered very serious injuries.
The loss is especially significant because the E-3 is not an ordinary transport aircraft.
It is essentially an airborne command center.
Its massive rotating radar can monitor aircraft and battlefield activity over long distances while helping commanders coordinate complex air operations.
The leaked photographs also show heavy destruction elsewhere at Prince Sultan.
Buildings appear hollowed out.
Roofs and walls are gone.
Debris covers large sections of the installation.
Other images obtained by CBS show similar scenes at Camp Buehring in Kuwait, a major staging area for U.S. ground troops.
Buildings and trailers appear flattened.
One photograph shows what remains of a vehicle after a strike.
Another shows substantial structural damage at Camp Arifjan, another major American military installation in Kuwait.
The photographs do not stand alone.
A Defense Department inspector general report released this month provided a broader accounting of Iranian attacks on American military infrastructure.
According to CBS’ summary of the report, Iranian strikes hit U.S. positions across Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.
The watchdog reported equipment losses worth as much as $3.7 billion and damage involving nearly 60 aircraft.
That scale makes the leaked images particularly important.
They put a visual face on numbers that can otherwise sound abstract.
A damaged aircraft becomes a blackened fuselage.
A hit installation becomes a field of rubble.
A military loss becomes something visible.
The broader cost of the conflict is also climbing rapidly.
A Congressional Budget Office assessment reported by Reuters estimated that the war had already cost the United States roughly $38 billion by mid-September and could add around $3 billion for every additional month it continues.
The conflict has also strained U.S. munitions stockpiles and damaged military assets across the region.
Eighteen American service members have been killed during the conflict, according to the same Reuters report.
Recent strikes have continued to expose vulnerabilities.
Earlier this month, Iranian attacks on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan damaged roughly eight F-15 fighter jets, though they were returned to service after relatively light damage.
An A-10 attack aircraft was hit more seriously and lost a wing, according to people familiar with the damage who spoke to CBS News.
That does not mean Iran has achieved military superiority over the United States.
Nor do the photographs establish that U.S. forces are losing the conflict.
American forces have inflicted enormous damage on Iranian military capabilities, and the Trump administration continues to argue that its operations have significantly weakened Tehran.
But the images undermine any impression that the war has been one-sided or nearly cost-free for Washington.
The United States is absorbing real equipment losses.
Its regional installations have repeatedly come under attack.
Its personnel have been killed and wounded.
And the financial costs continue to accumulate.
The conflict has now stretched for months, with no clear public timetable for when it will end.
Trump said last week that military operations against Iran could continue, warning Tehran against activity at its fortified Pickaxe Mountain complex near Natanz.
At the same time, instability connected to the war has spread throughout the region.
The Strait of Hormuz has faced disruption.
Energy prices have climbed.
Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have expanded their control along the Red Sea coast, creating another challenge for Washington and its regional allies.
That broader strategic picture makes the leaked photographs more than dramatic images.
They are evidence of the material price the United States is paying to sustain the conflict.
The Pentagon has not publicly disputed the authenticity of the CBS photographs.
And the Defense Department inspector general’s own findings confirm that American bases and aircraft have suffered widespread damage.
So while the political debate over whether the war has been successful will continue, one part of the story is now much harder to dismiss.
Iranian strikes have not merely tested U.S. defenses.
They have destroyed aircraft.
They have damaged major bases.
They have killed American personnel.
And they have forced Washington to spend tens of billions of dollars in a conflict whose ending remains uncertain.
The leaked images do not settle the argument over Trump’s war.
But they do reveal something numbers alone could not.
The damage is real.
And now, the public can see it.
