Ten American service members were wounded when Iranian-fired missiles and drones struck Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, multiple U.S. officials told CBS News. Military classifications listed two of the injured as very seriously wounded and eight as seriously wounded.
A U.S. Central Command spokesperson said more than 300 U.S. service members have been wounded in action since the start of the U.S.-Iran war, with most having returned to duty. Since the conflict began, 13 U.S. service members have been killed: one who had been wounded in an earlier attack on Prince Sultan and later died of his injuries; six killed in an Iranian strike on a U.S. facility in Kuwait hours after the war began; and six killed in a crash of a U.S. refueling aircraft over Iraq.
Prince Sultan, operated by the Royal Saudi Air Force and used by the U.S. Air Force’s 378th Air Expeditionary Wing, sits about 60 miles from Riyadh. U.S. and allied officials said Iran has carried out retaliatory strikes against Gulf states over the past four weeks, targeting sites where American forces are based, including Prince Sultan.
A person familiar with the matter told CBS News that Prince Sultan was also struck in a separate attack earlier this week that injured 14 people; that source did not disclose the nationalities of those injured. A U.S. official described the earlier strike as less severe than the most recent attack.
The latest strike renewed concerns about a regional shortage of missile interceptors as the conflict approaches the one-month mark. Arab partners and U.S. allies have warned they are running low on interceptors and have been forced to prioritize which incoming threats to engage, U.S. officials and allied partners said.
Margaret Brennan contributed to this report.