A series of gut-churning new photos obtained and released by CBS News has pulled back the curtain on the extensive damage sustained by multiple US military bases across the Middle East from Iranian drone strikes and missiles that the United States government appears to be trying to keep hidden from the American people.
While the images are undated, CBS confirms they were provided by multiple active-duty service members who remain anonymous because of the US military's strict restrictions on service members speaking to the media. The photos depict extensive damage ranging from a Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft that took a direct hit, essentially splitting the plane in two, to the hellish aftermath of Iranian strikes at Camp Buehring in Kuwait that shows destroyed trailers and a burned-out vehicle.
New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The images were sent to CBS News by active… pic.twitter.com/MmOX1rQgwN
— CBS News (@CBSNews) September 16, 2026
"This is major damage to our bases that hasn’t been communicated to the American public," one anonymous active-duty US service member told CBS. "We’re standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."
Earlier this year, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flippantly described an attack on the Port of Shuaiba in Kuwait that claimed the lives of six American troops as "squirters" that managed to make their way through our "incredible air defenders."
Hegseth: Every once in a while you might have one, we call it a squirter, that makes its way through. And in that particular case, it happened to hit a tactical operation center that was fortified. pic.twitter.com/bguh8gtOX0
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 2, 2026
That same US service member pushed back on Hegseth's description: "These are not ‘squirters’ getting through. We’re not defending these bases. We’re just watching them get destroyed."
Yet, just last week, President Donald Trump openly rejected reports regarding Iranian strikes in Jordan that resulted in extensive damage to multiple US military aircraft, telling NewsNation that there was "no damage... no nothing."
As noted by CBS in their report, "The Defense Department’s inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed ‘equipment losses’ worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft.”
I can't help but wonder how much more it's going to take, how much worse it's going to have to get, before this country finally understands that we are being lied to.
