U.S. weighs moving Middle East bases farther from Iran, with Israel among options

The United States is considering a broad reshaping of its military footprint in the Middle East after severe damage from Iranian missile and drone attacks. Officials are weighing reducing the American presence in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, upgrading and altering the Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain, and shifting some installations westward, possibly including to Israel.

According to sources cited by The Wall Street Journal, the goal is to move personnel and assets farther from Iranian missile and drone threats. Some damaged sites may not be rebuilt, command-and-control facilities could be moved underground, and U.S. military resources in the region may become more dispersed.

The Journal, based on satellite-image analysis, reported major damage at the naval support base in Bahrain, which also hosts the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Its headquarters was said to have been badly hit, along with dozens of other buildings and two satellite communications terminals. The Pentagon has not acknowledged those damages so far.

U.S. officials said no one was killed at the Bahrain base and that the attacks did not significantly affect operations. Tim Hawkins of U.S. Central Command said, “CENTCOM properly prioritized protecting its people over buildings. Our strategy to protect people worked. Iran fired more than 8,000 missiles and drones, and only two strikes caused the deaths of Americans.”

The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in a report published Tuesday that the total cost of the war was about $40 billion, including an estimated $2.2 billion to $5.1 billion in damage to American bases. The estimate was based on structures identified as damaged. Sources told the Journal that heavy damage in Bahrain, plus strikes on at least 20 U.S. sites across the region, is driving the reassessment.