War in Iran: the United States suffered much more damage than Washington is willing to admit

Will Donald Trump one day play the transparency card? Since the start of the war in Iran – on February 28, 2026 during the direct and coordinated attack with Tel Aviv on Tehran, which led to the death of Ayatollah Khamenei – he has ensured that the United States has the advantage. That Iran is in trouble. What he did not say was the extent of the damage suffered by American bases since the start of the conflict.

The Washington Post analyzed satellite images of the Middle East over the past two months. Journalists counted 228 American targets hit by Iran on military bases located in the region. This concerns hangars, barracks, fuel depots, radars and communications and air defense equipment. In total, 15 American bases were targeted, 217 structures and 11 pieces of equipment affected within them.

Censorship of satellite images remains an obstacle to the truth

To carry out this count – essential since neither the White House nor the Pentagon have communicated about the damage suffered by the United States in this war – the Washington Post journalists had to rely on Iranian satellite images. These hundred images were obviously verified – notably with lower resolution images provided by European satellites – to ensure that they had not been altered or fabricated from scratch by the Iranian regime for propaganda purposes.

If the journalists were unable to use images from American satellites, it is because the companies which broadcast them across the Atlantic have been ordered to no longer make available – at least not in real time – views of the Middle East. A censorship decided in March 2026, around ten days after the start of the conflicts, which makes journalistic work, but also academic analyzes by researchers, very difficult.

The United States did not take the measure of Iranian strength

The Washington Post also had the Iranian images analyzed by experts. According to them, the damage widely visible on satellite reports indicates that the United States greatly underestimated Iranian capabilities to strike military bases, in particular thanks to its arsenal of drones. According to specialists, Washington should have prepared better, in particular by analyzing the evolution of the war and the use of drones made in Ukraine. The Iranian strikes visible on satellite images are surgical. Proof, perhaps, of help from Russian intelligence.

Other American media have tried to count the damage caused by Iran on American bases in the Middle East. None had reached this conclusion. However, the American authorities remain silent in the face of journalists and elected officials who demand accountability. “No one knows anything, and it’s not for lack of asking”recently denounced a member of the American Congress on the NBC channel. However, this damage, and the inability of the United States to prevent it, will end up costing them millions of dollars.

And, if it turns out that the White House did not take the necessary measures to protect its men – including the six soldiers who died on a base in Kuwait in early March – and the territory of its allies in the region, the political consequences would be even greater.