In Kuwait, commander rejected troop relocation before drone strike — CBS News
In Kuwait, Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes supported moving a unit to the Port of Shuaiba rather than to Saudi Arabia before an Iranian drone attack on the port, CBS News reports, citing several sources. According to them, Army intelligence had warned Barnes since January that the port could become an Iranian target.
Six U.S. service members were killed in the March 1 strike, and more than 20 others were wounded. CBS News calls the attack the deadliest of the war for U.S. forces.
Relocation options
About a week before the start of Operation Epic Fury, most U.S. Army and Air Force personnel stationed in Kuwait were moved to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, farther from the range of Iranian missiles. The leadership of the 103rd Sustainment Command, a U.S. Army Reserve unit responsible for U.S. Central Command logistics, was presented with at least two options: Jenkins Logistics Support Base near Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, and Prince Sultan Air Base southeast of Riyadh.
A third option was relocation to the Port of Shuaiba. This approach had previously been used by the unit stationed in Kuwait before the 103rd Command arrived in September 2025: during the 12-day war between Israel and Iran, it briefly moved from Camp Arifjan to Shuaiba. One service member anonymously told CBS News that the situation at the time was different because Iran was not directly attacking U.S. positions in the Middle East.
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The U.S. Army declined to comment on the information, and Barnes did not respond to CBS News requests. A representative of the 103rd Sustainment Command also provided no comment.
Review and congressional demands
U.S. Army Central and Third Army tasked the Pentagon in the summer with conducting a review of the circumstances of the Iranian attack at the Port of Shuaiba. Earlier this month, an Army representative confirmed to CBS News that the review was completed in early July, but its results have not yet been made public. The Pentagon said it would not comment on specific details, individual testimony, or portions of the report that reached the media.
More than 20 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate appealed to the chairs of the relevant armed services committees to hold public hearings. In a letter, they demand clarification of the reasons for insufficient preparation for the attack and the provision of medical care to wounded service members.
Prince Sultan Air Base, which was also considered for relocation, came under Iranian fire. According to CBS News, a large U.S. Air Force aircraft was damaged there, but no deaths from the strikes on the base were reported.
