WASHINGTON, May 1 (Xinhua) -- Iran and its allies have damaged at least 16 U.S. military sites across eight Middle Eastern countries during the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran starting on Feb. 28, rendering some of those positions virtually unusable, a CNN investigation has found.
The damaged facilities constitute the majority of U.S. military sites in the region, according to the CNN report, citing a congressional aide familiar with the damage assessments.
"There has been a spectrum of assessments," a source said. "From a pretty dramatic side, of the whole facility is destroyed and needs to be shut down, to leaders who say these things are worth repairing due to the strategic benefit they give the U.S."
Satellite images showed that Tehran's main targets included U.S. advanced radar systems, communications systems and aircraft deployed in the Middle East, many of them expensive and difficult to replace, said the report, which drew on dozens of satellite images and interviews with sources in the United States and Gulf Arab nations.
"It's notable they really identified those facilities as the most cost-effective targets to hit," the congressional aide said. "Our radar systems (are) our most expensive and our most limited resources in the region."
Acting Pentagon Comptroller Jules Hurst III told lawmakers on Wednesday that the conflict with Iran had so far cost U.S. taxpayers 25 billion U.S. dollars. ■