Active-duty US military members leak images of damage to US planes and bases by Iran

Active-duty U.S. service members have leaked photos to CBS News that depict damage to American military infrastructure in the Middle East during the Iran war.

The images, which are undated and were shared anonymously, appear to show the aftermath of missile and drone strikes on U.S. facilities in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait .

The previously unseen images underscore the far-reaching impact of President Donald Trump’s war with Iran , now in its seven month with no clear end in sight .

“This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public,” one service member told CBS News . “We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face.”

One photo, from Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Al Kharj, Saudi Arabia, shows a four-engine Boeing aircraft with a large section of its fuselage and radar dome missing. Debris is scattered across the runway and sand. Earlier images of what appeared to be the same damaged plane had circulated on social media in March.

Another image from the base — which houses thousands of U.S. military personnel — shows a building gutted by a strike, with sections of its roof and walls torn away.

Photos from Camp Buehring and Camp Arifjan in Kuwait show similar destruction: a charred truck, a damaged three-story building and a field of trailers flattened after a strike. Another image shows a dark plume of smoke rising from what appears to be a large tent-like structure.

The CBS News report quickly gained traction on social media, drawing more than 1 million views on X alone and prompting reactions from former U.S. military personnel and policy experts.

“This is shocking to me after having served at some of these locations,” wrote Fred Wellman, a retired Army officer and Democratic candidate for Congress in Missouri.

“The ‘damaged’ AWACS [Airborne Warning and Control System] has suffered a catastrophic hit,” wrote Sina Azodi, a professor of Middle East studies at George Washington University, referring to the image of the Boeing aircraft.

The Independent has contacted the Pentagon and White House for comment.

Trump administration officials, who say the war is necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon , have repeatedly emphasized the damage U.S. forces have inflicted on Iran.

They have said Iran’s military has effectively been wiped out and that vast numbers of Iranian leaders have been killed.

“Iran is officially a Failed Nation,” President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social last month. “They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, they have no currency, they are not paying their soldiers or police, Inflation is at 300%, and their leadership is in total disarray and incapable of properly representing the country.”