How is a depleted Iran damaging so many US bases? A CNN investigation

[0:00] Unprecedented destruction. A CNN investigation discovering Iran has caused extensive damage to [0:05] a majority of the U.S. military sites in the region. Precise Iranian missile and drone strikes [0:10] aided by sophisticated Chinese technology, hitting some of America's most crucial military [0:16] assets in the Middle East. The extent of the damage unknown until now, our Tamara Khablawi [0:21] is out front. Camp Buring, Kuwait. American soldiers enjoying a karaoke night at one of [0:31] the biggest U.S. military hubs in the Gulf. That was then. This is now. A once-bustling [0:38] American microcity in the desert, nearly empty and heavily damaged after a weeks-long barrage [0:44] of Iranian missiles and drones. One of many U.S. military facilities in the oil-rich Arabian [0:50] Peninsula, targeted by Iran even as the U.S. and Israel pummeled the Islamic Republic's [0:55] large arsenal. So what impact have Iran's strikes had on America's footprint in the Middle East? [1:02] A CNN investigation found evidence of unprecedented destruction. We can reveal that strikes damaged [1:08] at least 16 U.S. installations across eight countries. According to our analysis and sourcing, [1:14] that's the majority of American military positions in the region. And some of them are virtually [1:20] unusable now. A U.S. source familiar with the situation told us that they'd never seen anything [1:26] like this at American bases, that these were rapid, targeted strikes using advanced technology. [1:32] Iran's main targets? Multi-million dollar aircraft, like this Boeing E3 Sentry, which gave the U.S. [1:39] a huge amount of visibility over the Gulf. It's out of production. And in today's money, [1:44] it's worth nearly half a billion dollars. Critical communications equipment. Look at these giant golf [1:51] balls. They're known as radomes, and they protect satellite dishes vital for data transmission. In this [1:57] space alone, Iran destroyed all but one of the radomes less than a month into the war. And crucially, [2:03] radar systems. Highly sophisticated, expensive, difficult to replace, and critical to air defense. [2:11] A second U.S. source, this one a congressional aide familiar with damage assessments, described these [2:16] as the most cost-effective of the targets. Our radar systems, they said, are our most expensive [2:22] and our most limited resource in the region. For U.S. allies in the region, there's a dilemma. In some [2:28] ways, Iran's show of force makes the U.S.'s presence in the region even more necessary to Gulf security. [2:34] But there's a new reality here, which is that U.S. military installations, previously seen as formidable [2:40] fortresses, have turned into sitting targets. As a Saudi source told me, the war has shown Saudi [2:47] Arabia, that's the U.S.'s longest-standing Arab ally, that the alliance with the U.S. cannot be [2:53] exclusive, and it is not, in their words, impregnable. To get a sense of just how vulnerable [2:59] U.S. facilities have become, have a look at this. It's the war room at Qatar's Al-Adaid air base, [3:06] the theater command and control hub for U.S. air power across 21 nations. Struck not just once, [3:13] but twice. And according to a U.S. source, causing significant damage. The base had been largely [3:18] evacuated at this point, and no casualties were reported. Iran's visibility over its targets has [3:24] never been clearer. In 2024, according to the Financial Times, Tehran secretly acquired a Chinese [3:30] satellite, known as the TEE-01B, a massive upgrade from its own satellites. That means that Tehran [3:37] went from looking at images of this quality, to this. This is the first time America has fought [3:43] an adversary with satellites that capture high-res imagery almost as detailed as its own. As the [3:50] scale of the damage comes into focus, many will wonder whether America's presence, once a protective [3:56] shield in the Middle East has turned into its Achilles heel. Responding to our findings, [4:01] a Pentagon official said that the Defense Department does not discuss damage assessments, [4:05] but that U.S. forces remain fully operational with the same readiness and combat effectiveness. [4:11] We also understand from our sources that the vast majority of U.S. troops evacuated their positions [4:16] in the Middle East, with many working from the relative safety of hotels and apartments in the [4:20] Arabian Peninsula. What stands out to you about all this? Well, Aaron, you know, what's interesting is [4:26] that the U.S. intercept rate is likely somewhere in the 95 percent level right now. These look [4:34] predominantly like drone strikes. That's our assessment, the Shahids that did this rather than [4:40] Iranian ballistic missiles. But it does show if the intercept rate is somewhere around the 95 percent [4:46] level that 5 percent or so are getting through and they are having damage. So the system that the U.S. [4:52] has in place is not foolproof. It's very good, but it's not foolproof. And I would just say sort of [4:58] big picture of your shift to the Indo-Pacific with the PLA, the Chinese People's Liberation Army Rocket [5:04] Force, U.S. bases across the region, Japan, Philippines and other places are going to be at much more severe [5:11] danger than what we're seeing now in the Middle East. Yeah, absolutely. And then when you talk about [5:15] with the damage done by the drones, right, that the missile interceptor rate may be, you know, [5:19] exceptional, five percent can cause huge damage. But then there's the drones. You have done [5:26] incredible reporting, you and all of CSIS, on the depletion of U.S. offensive capabilities, [5:33] missile inventories specifically as well. Trump was asked about that earlier today. Seth, I wanted to [5:38] play part of what he said. All over the world we have inventory and we can take that if we need it. [5:45] But all over the world we have tremendous amounts of inventory, the best. For instance, [5:49] we're stocked and locked and loaded. Right now we have more than double what we had when this started. [5:59] More than double what we had when this started and tremendous amounts of inventory. I mean, [6:04] what do you even make of such comments? Obviously false when it comes to things like tomahawks, [6:09] but what do you make overall? Well, I think what's important is that not all missiles are created equal. [6:14] I mean, one of the advantages the U.S. had over time in Iran was that it had air dominance. It could [6:20] use short range missiles like joint direct attack munitions or JDAMs. The problem that the U.S. has [6:27] in the Pacific right now is it's going to have to use long range missiles because the Chinese have such [6:32] extensive capabilities to hit targets in what we call the first and second island chains, like out to Guam. [6:38] And there the U.S. stockpiles of long range munitions like tomahawks, like JASMs, like long range anti-ship [6:46] missiles, L-RASMs, they are in very limited supply right now. And the same thing with the interceptors. [6:53] So what really matters in this discussion is not missiles per se. It's not helpful to talk about [6:58] missiles in general. It's the missiles you need to deter in specific situations. [7:02] Which I think is just so crucial and what you lay out there is so important. And it's important for [7:07] Americans to understand all of this and the truth. Obviously, you know, what he said there is at best [7:12] extremely misleading about something so important for national security. He also talked today, Seth, [7:18] about something about Iran, right? What does Iran really have left? Okay, the military. And he was very [7:23] specific. Here he is. We get the radical left to say, we're not winning. We're not winning. They don't [7:30] have any military left. It's unbelievable. It's actually, it's actually, I believe it's treasonous. [7:35] Okay, you want to know that it's treasonous? And he said that Iran is, they've got nothing left. [7:45] Okay, you've looked specifically at that. And you found that Iran does still have a lot left when you [7:49] look at drones, you look at missile launchers. Yeah, Aaron, I mean, look, there's no question, [7:55] first of all, that Iran has, its capabilities across the boards are degraded. The video you showed of [8:03] US bases, what the extent of the damage in Iran is much more significant than what US bases have [8:10] received. Nevertheless, despite that damage, the Iranians have hid stuff underground. So they still [8:16] have 40% or so, our assessment of their drone capabilities left, and then maybe 60% or so of [8:23] their missile launchers. So they do still have the capability to fire missiles and drones. And that [8:30] makes them still a dangerous adversary. And as you just noted in your reporting, they're getting help [8:36] from the Chinese, and I would add the Russians as well. All right. Seth Jones, thank you very much. [8:42] I appreciate it. Thanks.