Iran strikes inflicted $400M damage on U.S. Navy base in Bahrain

The U.S. Navy base in Bahrain was repeatedly targeted by Iranian missiles and drones between late February and June, sustaining extensive damage that the Pentagon has not publicly acknowledged, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of satellite imagery, social-media footage and interviews with current and former service members. The Journal estimated that rebuilding the damaged structures at Naval Support Activity Bahrain (NSA Bahrain) would cost about $400 million.

The strikes hit the headquarters of the Navy’s Fifth Fleet, which covers the Middle East, and damaged at least a dozen other buildings, including barracks, warehouses, an emergency management warehouse, a dining hall, a potable water tank and a training building for Naval Security Forces. Two AN/GSC-52B satellite communications terminals, each costing about $20 million, were destroyed in the opening hours of Iran’s retaliatory strikes, along with a communications management facility. The Fifth Fleet command building is no longer usable, according to a U.S. official quoted by the Journal.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, told the Journal that the military “rightfully prioritized the protection of people over buildings” and that “only two hits resulted in U.S. fatalities” out of more than 8,000 missiles and drones fired by Iran. Hawkins also said the U.S. military struck more than 13,500 targets in Iran.

The extensive damage has prompted the U.S. to re-evaluate its entire military footprint in the region, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations. The military is considering revamping the Bahrain base, reducing the U.S. presence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and moving some bases or base functions farther west, beyond the reach of Iranian missiles and drones. Israel is among the locations being considered for basing, two of the officials said.

NSA Bahrain, less than 150 miles from Iran’s southern coast, has been the anchor of American naval power in the Middle East for more than three decades. The base can host every type of ship in the U.S. fleet and has played a critical role in countering Iranian weapon smuggling, minelaying and tanker attacks. It is divided into three sections: a waterfront area for ship operations, the main base with administrative and command buildings, and a Navy-leased warehouse annex. Iran hit all three.

Among the structures damaged or destroyed were the Fifth Fleet headquarters (estimated reconstruction cost $200 million), a Naval Security Forces training building ($1 million), an emergency management warehouse ($14 million), a potable water tank and adjacent warehouse ($41 million), the main dining hall and a barracks for about 450 personnel ($24 million), and a warehouse group in the Navy-leased annex that housed Task Force 59, the Navy’s drone and AI unit ($34 million), plus at least three neighboring warehouses ($75 million). The Journal used a Defense Department cost model and procurement reports for the estimates, which cover only construction and not debris removal or reinforcement.

The Pentagon has declined to publicly discuss the cost of the damage. When pressed for an estimate at a May congressional hearing, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth replied: “What is the cost of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?” Pentagon comptroller Jay Hurst told Congress last month that the department’s estimated war cost of $29 billion did not include damage to U.S. bases. The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimated the total war cost at about $40 billion, including $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion in base damage.

“The extensive damage done to America’s sole naval base in the Middle East — along with hits to at least 20 U.S. sites across the region — has the U.S. re-evaluating its entire footprint,” the Journal reported. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with the King of Bahrain and other Gulf leaders this week, saying on social media that “Iran’s attacks on Bahrain were unacceptable.” Rubio skipped Saudi Arabia, which restricted U.S. base and airspace access during the war, deepening a rift that has accelerated Washington’s reassessment.

Retired Vice Adm. John “Fozzie” Miller, who commanded U.S. naval forces in the Middle East, said of the base’s vulnerabilities: “We’ve been there for more than 50 years, and the base grew up the way the base grew up. I think there are some things we would do differently.” Dr. Ravi Chaudhary, a former assistant secretary of the Air Force, said the damage was “the byproduct of 10 years of Iran adapting its strike technologies for greater range and accuracy.” Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at CSIS, noted that building construction may be the smaller part of the total cost, depending on what was inside the destroyed buildings.