ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran and its affiliate Iraqi armed groups attacked American diplomatic facilities across Iraq more than 600 times between April and the end of June, a US government oversight report on Operation Epic Fury found, noting that the newly constructed US Consulate General compound in Erbil sustained some of the most significant damage.
The Baghdad Diplomatic Support Compound, located near Baghdad International Airport, “suffered extensive damage, but the facility was already in the process of closing," the report said, noting that Iraq accounted for the vast majority of diplomatic facility damage costs globally, with estimated losses of $157.35 million out of a total $184 million across four countries.
The report said the Department of War found that between February 28 and June 30, "seven U.S. Service members were killed in action and seven were killed in non-hostile events," while 417 service members were wounded in action. The report noted four additional service members were killed in July, including three at an air base in Jordan and one at Erbil Air Base.
The US and Israel in late February launched a joint aerial campaign, striking thousands of targets across Iran. Tehran responded with drone and missile strikes across the Middle East, targeting alleged US assets in Gulf Arab states and launching retaliatory strikes against Israel.
Iran and its affiliated armed groups, operating under the umbrella of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq (IRI), also launched nearly 1,000 drone and missile attacks on the Kurdistan Region since the start of the war, primarily targeting Kurdish dissident groups and killing 32 people and wounding 154 others as of early August, according to Rudaw tracking.
The attacks on the Kurdistan Region persisted even after Washington and Tehran reached a ceasefire on April 7, followed by the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding signed on June 17. The assaults continued despite repeated affirmations by Kurdish officials that the Region is not a party to the conflict.
According to the Lead Inspector General's report, the ongoing military campaign against Iran has cost at least $33.4 billion as of late June, though officials warned the true cost remains difficult to calculate and is likely to rise.
The single largest expense was munitions, at $22.3 billion. Equipment losses accounted for a further $3.7 billion in destroyed or written-off hardware, while incremental operational costs totalled $7.4 billion. The $33.4 billion baseline figure "did not include costs for infrastructure repairs," the report noted.
Moreover, the campaign saw four F-15E Strike Eagles and one A-10 Thunderbolt destroyed, along with seven KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft damaged or destroyed. An F-35A stealth fighter sustained damage from enemy fire over Iran. Seven helicopters and as many as 30 MQ-9 drones were also lost.
The report further pointed to "the absence of a dedicated appropriation" for Operation Epic Fury, noting that the Department of War had instead drawn on base budget funds otherwise earmarked for training and maintenance.
Additionally, intercepting more than 6,000 one-way attack drones and 1,500 ballistic missiles fired by Iran and its affiliated armed groups severely drew down US defense stockpiles, the report found, exposing bottlenecks in solid rocket motors, high-grade explosives, and skilled manufacturing labor that would require "significant lead time" to address.
