The photos, provided by active military personnel, show a severed radar jet, flattened trailers and severely damaged buildings. The undated photos were taken at US bases and sites in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

One member of the military, who was not named by CBS, said: " This is major damage to our bases that hasn't been communicated to the American public." We're standing there with our eyes closed getting punched in the face."

The White House referred the BBC to US Central Command. Centcom did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The photos, which have not been independently verified by the BBC, were published the day after a report from the Pentagon's watchdog confirmed hundreds of buildings and structures at US bases in the Middle East have been damaged and destroyed by Iran. One of the photos showed a destroyed Boeing E-3 Sentry at Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia that has been ripped in half, its tail section crumpled into a tangled mess of metal.

8bn). 7bn) on the war up to 29 June, the report said.

In the months after the war began, "dozens of US aircraft were destroyed or damaged", the report continues. A separate report , external from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) notes that the E-3 aircraft is no longer in production and would have to be replaced with a more modern equivalent, the E-7.

4b). CBO said that its review was subject to "uncertainty" because the defence department did not respond to its requests for information, requiring the agency to rely on government databases and public reports.

Additionally, the extent of repairs and rebuilding that the US military plans to do remains unclear, according to the report. Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute said that while "these costs show how the Trump administration burned through precious military resources without having much to show for it", the greater damage had been to broader US military readiness.

" The United States had to divert military assets from Asia to the Middle East, leaving America and its partners in Asia more exposed and vulnerable to China," he said. " In addition, the depletion of US munitions makes Russia more willing to probe vulnerabilities with America's NATO allies and continue its aggressive war against Ukraine."

While the US has the financial resources to address the equipment losses, it is already facing budgetary problems and may not be able to do so fast enough to prepare for potential flare-ups in the Middle East or elsewhere in the world, he added. Public and political pressure has mounted on the White House to find an end to the conflict with Iran, which began on 28 February when the US and Israel launched joint attacks on the country.