Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi yesterday ridiculed American claims that Iran was left defenseless and recalled the US Department of Defense report, which detailed ammunition shortages and damage caused to US military assets during the war, DPA reported, BTA reported.
“Fiction: Iran is defenseless. Fact: Hundreds of US military sites completely destroyed, dozens of aircraft destroyed”, Araghchi wrote on the social network Ex.
The Iranian foreign minister referred to the US Department of Defense report published on Monday. He added that the losses described in the document are only the “tip of the iceberg”.
The report itself states that Iranian attacks damaged or destroyed “hundreds of buildings and facilities” at US military bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Jordan. It also notes that US fighter jets and other military aircraft were damaged or destroyed during the war.
Shortly after the start of the war, which began with a US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28, US President Donald Trump declared that the Islamic Republic “has absolutely no defense” and said that its leadership, as well as its naval and air forces, have been destroyed.
The war has been going on for more than six months. The US Department of Defense watchdog also found that the use of large quantities of munitions during Operation Epic Fury had caused a “strategic shortage of supplies” and had exposed obstacles to the defense industry’s ability to replenish supplies.
A large number of expensive interceptor missiles, including the Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD), were used in the conflict.
THAAD is a system designed to intercept short- and medium-range ballistic missiles. The report also said Iran had destroyed a THAAD radar station worth about $500 million.
The Pentagon estimates the cost of the war as of the end of June at $33.4 billion, with more than $22 billion of that spent on munitions.