Pentagon watchdog report says US war on Iran depleted munitions and damaged Gulf bases

US acknowledges munition 'shortfalls' due to war on Iran Submitted by MEE staff on Tue, 09/15/2026 - 17:17 Inspector general report says that 'hundreds' of buildings on Gulf bases have been destroyed US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth speaks during a ceremony in the courtyard of the Pentagon commemorating the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, on 11 September 2026, in Arlington, Virginia (Finn Gomez/Getty Images/AFP) Off The US is facing ammunition “shortfalls” as a result of the war on Iran, the US Department of War’s inspector general said in a report on Monday. "The munitions expenditure on OEF has resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply," the report, which was submitted to Congress by the inspector general, said. To deal with shortfalls and delays, the Pentagon is "working to streamline procurement processes and production lead times, and to stockpile critical materials, components, and selected munitions," the report added, Though it noted that expanding production capacities requires "significant lead time”. The Department of War report contradicts US President Donald Trump and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth’s claims that the war has caused no munitions shortfalls. Middle East Eye reported in the early days of the conflict that the US faced a shortage of missile interceptors and that Gulf states were put on waitlists. 'Hundreds of facilities destroyed' The Associated Press reported in August that the Iran war has impacted the US’s ability to defend Ukraine, with a ”beyond critical" shortage of advanced missile interceptors, especially Patriots, used to shoot down Russian ballistic missiles. Reuters also reported that the US has exhausted its stockpile of sophisticated long-range missiles used in stand-off strikes. The US drained its supply of surface-to-surface weapons, including ATACMS and Precision Strike Missiles, Reuters said, citing two sources who said the US had used "virtually all" of these munitions. The inspector general's report also identified losses to the American fleet, including four F-15 fighters destroyed, one F-35 fighter damaged, seven KC-135 tanker aircraft damaged, and up to 30 MQ-9 Reaper drones destroyed. It also confirmed that the US Navy's main logistics hub in the region, located in Bahrain, had been targeted by Iran with drone and ballistic missile strikes. Iran used Chinese spy satellite to attack US bases in Gulf: Report Read More » The report said “hundreds of buildings and structures” at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman, and Jordan have been damaged or destroyed by Iranian strikes. The report says it is not yet clear if all the bases will be rebuilt, or who will foot the bill. It does, however, say the estimated cost of the war is around $33.4bn, but that does not include infrastructure repair costs.  Out of that $33.4bn, $3.7bn is equipment loss and $22.3bn is expended munitions. MEE has reported that current and former US officials say rebuilding bases in the Middle East is not a viable solution, with Iran showing how vulnerable they are to missiles and drones. More than 50,000 personnel were deployed throughout the US Central Command area to support the war, with over 1,500 air missions conducted.  As of 30 June, seven US service members had been killed in action and seven in “non-hostile events”, the report said. An additional 417 service members were wounded in action, it added. War on Iran News Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:19 Update Date Override 0

Iran has inflicted heavy damage on U.S. installations across the Middle East since February, much more than had been previously disclosed.On Monday, the Department of Defense inspector general released an official account of U.S. losses from February 28 to June 30 to Congress, and the findings are stark. The military lost dozens of aircraft, including drones, fighter jets, helicopters, and refueling tankers. Hundreds of buildings on U.S. bases were damaged or destroyed by Iran, including extensive damage to the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain in a February 28 drone attack. U.S. munitions have been depleted, with supply chains to restock them hit with bottlenecks.The U.S. spent close to $22.3 billion on munitions and $33.4 billion on the war in general in that four-month period. At least 11 U.S. service members were “killed in action,” while another seven were killed in “non-hostile events.” At least 417 U.S. troops were wounded in the war as of June 30. U.S. diplomatic facilities were damaged to the tune of $184 million in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.All of this doesn’t include the costs and damage sustained since hostilities resumed in July. Iran captured a U.S. submersible Dive-LD earlier this month and traded attacks on oil tankers with the U.S. last week.As the war continues, the White House has requested $87.6 billion in emergency supplemental funding, including $67.1 billion for the Pentagon itself. Senior White House officials have warned President Trump behind closed doors that the war could stretch through the end of 2028. The war has hurt the global and U.S. economy, and sent gas prices skyrocketing. Billions of taxpayers are essentially being set on fire for a war that wasn’t even necessary to begin with.

WASHINGTON: The United States has acknowledged that its war on Iran resulted in “strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply” for America. The admission came in the first Pentagon Inspector General’s report on the US-Israeli war on Iran. The report, released on Monday, provides a detailed account of the campaign’s cost, damage and impact on American weapons stocks, confirming some of the concerns that news organisations had reported for months. More than 50,000 US service members took part in the campaign, flying thousands of combat missions and expending $22.3 billion worth of munitions, according to the report. The report, covering the period between February 28 and June 30, puts the direct cost of the war at about $33.4bn. Of that amount, $22.3bn was spent on munitions, $3.7bn on equipment losses and $7.4bn on other expenditures. The estimate does not include the cost of repairing damaged facilities, replacing aircraft or replenishing critical weapons stocks. That distinction explains why Pentagon estimates of the war’s cost have varied. In late July, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress that the war had cost the department $37.5bn. Separately, NBC News reported in July that US officials and people familiar with internal estimates put the eventual cost between $80bn and $100bn. Those higher estimates apparently included costs not captured in the Inspector General’s four-month calculation, including repairs, replacement of aircraft and replenishment of weapons. The Inspector General’s report nevertheless confirms one of the most closely watched concerns of the war: the effect of the campaign on US munitions stocks. The report said the conflict “resulted in strategic inventory shortfalls and revealed industrial base bottlenecks for munitions resupply”. The finding aligned with concerns about rapidly falling stocks, reported by various news outlets well before the Inspector General’s assessment was released. In March, The Washington Post reported that the US military had fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first four weeks of the conflict, prompting concern among some Pentagon officials about the rapid depletion of precision weapons. The White House and Pentagon, however, said at the time that the United States had sufficient stocks to carry out the operation. By late April, Pentagon officials were putting the cost of the first two months of the operation at about $25bn, saying that most of the amount was for munitions. Independent analysts questioned whether that figure captured the full cost of the war, given equipment losses, damage to bases and other expenses. The Inspector General’s report provided an official acknowledgement that the campaign did impose significant pressure on weapons inventories. The report said the Defence Department was responding by streamlining procurement and production lead times and by stockpiling critical materials, components and selected munitions so that it could respond more rapidly to another contingency. The physical damage was also extensive, according to the report. Iranian strikes damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan, it said. Dozens of American aircraft and drones were destroyed or damaged. The Pentagon report also confirmed that Iran attacked the US Navy’s principal logistics hub in Bahrain with drones and ballistic missiles. It also recorded the destruction of at least 30 large US drones during the period covered by the assessment. The damage extended to American diplomatic facilities. US diplomatic properties in Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates suffered an estimated $184 million in physical damage, according to the report. The State Department separately reported $113m in overall costs related to the conflict, including nearly $80m for contingency planning and evacuations. More than 20,000 US military and diplomatic personnel were also displaced during the conflict, according to the assessment. The findings confirmed a picture that had been emerging from independent reporting: “Operation Epic Fury” was not simply a campaign in which the United States fired large quantities of weapons at Iranian targets. It also imposed substantial demands on the American military’s ability to replace those weapons, protect its regional bases and move personnel and equipment away from threatened facilities.