Wall Street Journal Probe Says Iranian Strikes Crippled U.S. Naval Hub in Bahrain

A Wall Street Journal visual investigation says the damage from Iranian missile and drone strikes on the U.S. Navy base in Bahrain was far worse than publicly acknowledged. Based on satellite imagery, social media video and interviews with current and former military officials, the report says the attacks, carried out between late February and June, penetrated defenses and badly damaged the Fifth Fleet headquarters at the key American naval hub just under 150 miles from Iran.

The investigation says the Fifth Fleet command building is no longer usable. It also says two advanced AN/GSC-52B satellite communications terminals and another communications-management facility were destroyed, along with a large warehouse complex, a hangar previously used by Task Force 59, an emergency storage facility, a main water tank, the central dining hall and a barracks for about 450 personnel. Using a Pentagon pricing model, the paper estimates rebuilding the physical damage in Bahrain alone at about $400 million, excluding debris removal, hardening and the value of destroyed equipment.

Pentagon officials have tried to minimize the damage and stress that protecting lives was the priority. CENTCOM spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said the command focused on force protection, and that out of more than 8,000 Iranian missiles and drones fired during the war, only two strikes caused fatalities. He said the U.S. inflicted much greater damage on Iran and hit more than 13,500 targets. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, asked about the cost of repairing U.S. bases, replied, “What is the price of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon?”

The Pentagon budget office has said the current war cost estimate, about $29 billion, does not include base reconstruction. A separate CSIS report puts damage to U.S. bases across the region at $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion. The Bahrain damage, plus harm to at least 20 other U.S. facilities in the Middle East, including Al Asad in Kuwait, Al Dhafra in the UAE and Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia, is pushing Washington to rethink its regional force posture, including possible cuts in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, moving some bases farther west, building more underground command centers, and possibly shifting some U.S. capabilities to Israel, which hosted dozens of American aircraft and tanker planes during the war.