The US has admitted that Iranian missile attacks amid the ongoing conflict caused damage to a key American naval base in Bahrain, with the service now evaluating whether the facility should be repaired and how it would support military operations in the region.
Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the Bahrain-based installation, Naval Support Activity Bahrain (NSA Bahrain), had suffered significant damage during the fighting with Iran.
“They blew the hell out of Bahrain,” Cao told The Epoch Times earlier this week.
The base serves as the headquarters for US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet and has for years been a major logistics and operational hub for the Navy in the Middle East.
Iran began targeting the facility after the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28, according to reports cited in the inputs.
Cao said the Navy was considering its options for the base, including whether repairs would be required.
“I have a task force that’s looking at that,” he said when asked whether the Navy would need to repair the facility to sustain its forces in the region.
The extent of the damage had previously been indicated by open-source satellite imagery, but Cao’s remarks marked a direct acknowledgement by a senior US official of the impact on the installation.
The Navy has also indicated that it does not expect to return to the base in the immediate future.
At a town hall on August 31, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle told sailors displaced from NSA Bahrain that the service was working on a plan to reunite personnel with belongings left behind at the installation.
“We’re not getting back in there anytime soon,” Caudle said, adding that he wanted to be “completely honest” with personnel about the situation.
The damage to the Bahrain facility comes amid a broader toll on US military assets during the conflict.
According to a US official cited by Reuters, Iranian strikes this week damaged multiple US military aircraft at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.
One A-10 Thunderbolt II was reportedly left with a missing wing, while around eight F-15 fighter jets suffered lighter damage but were subsequently returned to service.
The US military has already suffered losses and damage to aircraft during the conflict, including the destruction of more than two dozen drones and losses linked to attacks and accidents.
A May Congressional Research Service report cited in the inputs said 42 US military aircraft had been lost or damaged by that point.
The conflict has also taken a human toll, with 18 US service members killed and more than 800 injured since the war began in February.
Iranian attacks have additionally placed pressure on US air-defence resources.
The attack on the US base in Jordan reportedly prompted American forces to fire about 30 Patriot interceptors to counter incoming missiles.
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