Military expert Yury Knutov said the United States was not prepared for Iranian strikes on its military bases in the Middle East. According to him, about 200 American servicemen were wounded in the recent attack.

Knutov noted that such facilities are supposed to have shelters for personnel, including pilots, during attacks. In his view, losses on that scale raise serious questions, since it would have required gathering a large number of flight and technical staff in one shelter.

He also recalled that Iran has so far managed to disable 13 American bases. In his assessment, this suggests Washington did not expect a direct military response from Teheran. As a result, the level of protection at some US facilities in the region turned out to be extremely weak, or even largely symbolic.

Earlier, a video appeared online showing an Iranian missile strike on one of the US military bases. The footage was filmed by an American serviceman who was inside a shelter with other soldiers.

Analysts pointed out that one of the men was wearing only underwear, body armor, and a helmet. In their view, this may indicate that the strike caught the military completely off guard. The exact base shown in the video was not specified.