“Just the tip of the iceberg”
Iran mocks US losses
Updated on 09/16/2026 – 07:42 amReading time: 2 minutes
Dozens of aircraft have been destroyed, hundreds of military bases have been damaged – the Iran war is costing the US military dearly. The leadership in Tehran reacts mockingly.
The leadership in Tehran has noted the US military’s ammunition shortage and losses in the war against the US military Iran acknowledged with ridicule. Hundreds of US military bases in the region were “shot to pieces” and dozens of US aircraft burned, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi mocked on the X platform. He was referring to information from the US Department of Defense. The claim that Iran is defenseless is nothing but “fiction,” wrote Araghchi.
The US military had previously said in a report to Parliament Washington acknowledged that Iranian attacks “hundreds of buildings and structures” on US military bases in the allied states of Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab States, Saudi Arabiadem IraqOman and Jordan damaged or destroyed. In addition, dozens of US military fighter jets and other aircraft were destroyed or damaged during the course of the war, it said. That was “just the tip of the iceberg,” Araghtschi sneered.
US President Donald Trump had already claimed shortly after the start of the war against Iran that the Islamic Republic had “absolutely no defense” and no longer had any leadership, the Iranian navy and air force were destroyed. The war began with attacks by the American and Israeli militaries on Iranian targets on February 28. The conflict has now lasted more than six months.
Trump administration admits: ammunition shortages on the US side
In a report to Congress, a US Department of Defense regulatory agency found serious ammunition shortages as a result of the war. The consumption of ammunition caused “strategic inventory gaps” and “revealed bottlenecks in the defense industry when it comes to supplies.”
Among other things, a large number of expensive interceptor missiles such as THAAD and Patriot missiles were used. THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) stands for a defense system that can defend against short- and medium-range missiles. According to the report, a THAAD radar station worth $500 million (€433 million) was destroyed by Iran. The Pentagon estimates the total cost of the war effort by the end of June at 33.4 billion US dollars. Spent ammunition is by far the largest item at over $22 billion.
