2026年9月24日 / 美国东部时间晚上9:01 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
作者
乔纳·卡普兰 调查记者
乔纳·卡普兰是获奖记者、调查新闻工作者，以平衡报道、深度访谈和对影响全美各地社区的重大议题进行深入调研而闻名。他的报道遍布哥伦比亚广播公司所有节目和平台，包括《CBS晚间新闻》《CBS早间新闻》和CBS 24/7新闻频道。
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多名消息人士向CBS新闻透露，在伊朗战争初期，科威特一处小型港口遭到伊朗无人机袭击造成大量美军伤亡，而这些美军本可以转移到沙特阿拉伯西部更安全的阵地，但该部队指挥官却否决了这项计划，尽管当时已有情报警告其驻地可能遭遇袭击。
距离“史诗之怒行动”发起约一周前，驻扎在科威特的大部分美军士兵和空军人员已被转移至约旦和沙特阿拉伯，远离伊朗的导弹射程。第103持续保障司令部（为美国中央司令部提供后勤保障的陆军预备役部队）的领导层曾研究并提出至少两个备选方案：一个是位于沙特西南部港口城市延布附近的詹金斯后勤支援区（LSA Jenkins）美军基地，另一个是沙特首都利雅得东南部的苏丹亲王空军基地。
当时该部队的指挥官、准将克林特·巴恩斯支持第三个方案，即沿用2025年9月第103持续保障司令部进驻科威特前，此前部署在科威特的部队的行动模式。同年7月以伊之间为期12天的战争期间，该现役部队曾从科威特的阿里夫坚军营短暂转移至舒艾卜港——该港位于科威特城以南约30英里，距伊朗西南部仅65英里。
“那完全是另一种局势，”一名不愿透露姓名的美军士兵表示，他因未获授权接受媒体采访而要求匿名。“当时伊朗和以色列之间有导弹和无人机在头顶飞行，我们更担心其中一枚被拦截后坠落下来。”
当年夏天，美国、以色列及其他盟友联手击落了数十枚射向以色列的伊朗弹道导弹，但伊朗从未直接针对美国在中东的阵地发动袭击。
然而到2025年秋末，美军情报部门开始规划若美国进一步参与针对伊朗政权的军事行动，伊朗可能实施的报复方案。
消息人士称，今年1月，美军情报部门开始向巴恩斯通报舒艾卜港可能成为袭击目标，但在“史诗之怒行动”发起前几天，他仍选择将部队转移至该港，而非沙特境内的基地。
“舒艾卜港是最简单的选择，”另一名美军士兵说道。
美国陆军周四拒绝置评。CBS新闻也曾联系巴恩斯，但未收到回复。
此次披露的信息是最新一批由现役和预备役军人提供的举报人证词，涉及这场战争中最致命袭击前后的决策过程。3月1日的袭击造成6名美军士兵死亡、20多人受伤。
值得注意的是，作为部队转移备选方案之一的苏丹亲王空军基地也遭到了伊朗火力袭击。CBS新闻独家获取的照片显示，一架大型空军战机受损，但未接到该基地遇袭造成人员死亡的报告。
美国陆军中央司令部和第三集团军今年夏天下令启动五角大楼调查，以“查明舒艾卜港伊朗袭击事件的事实和背景”，但在审查启动前，CBS新闻的一项调查就已开始披露多名袭击幸存者所称的袭击前、袭击期间和袭击后的“战略失误”。
在这次致命袭击发生后的第二天，美国国防部长皮特·赫格斯西将伊朗无人机称为“漏网之鱼”，暗示该无人机突破了科威特境内一支强化防御部队的防空系统。今年4月，一名受伤士兵告诉CBS新闻，将袭击描述为“一架无人机钻了空子”并不准确。该士兵表示，该部队“完全没有能力为自身提供防御，这并非设防阵地”。
科迪·科克少校的金星父母吉姆和斯泰西·科克在一次独家采访中告诉CBS新闻，他们的儿子作为部队的一名部队防护军官，是最早向巴恩斯警告该驻地易受攻击的关键士兵之一。
“我的儿子本不必死，”斯泰西·科克悲痛地说道。“没错，他是为国家而死。没错，他是爱国者，是英雄。我不愿用‘谋杀’这个词，因为它太强烈了，但如果你的亲人被谋杀，我们的司法体系就是为了追究责任、弥补过失、抚平家属悲痛而建立的。”
CBS新闻还采访了其他爆炸幸存者，他们详细描述了袭击前向领导层提出的增加资源的请求，这些请求涉及医疗人员数量以及医疗用品的可获得性和可及性。
“这是一场失败，”斯蒂芬·兰斯博特姆少校今年5月在接受CBS新闻采访时表示，他认为另一名遇难士兵、总军士长妮可·阿莫尔如果当时驻地有医生、固定急救站或不止一辆救护车，本可以从伤势中存活下来。据目击者称，士兵们只能用临时绷带、支架和止血带自行进行伤检分类，他们征用民用车辆将伤者送往科威特当地的两家医院。
五角大楼多次驳斥有关军方试图淡化该事件的说法。今年3月，五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔在X平台上针对CBS新闻此前关于此次袭击的报道回应称，“各级都已采取一切可能措施保障我们部队的安全”，并称“该安全设施建有6英尺高的围墙”。
本月早些时候，一名陆军发言人向科克夫妇和CBS新闻证实，针对此次致命伊朗袭击的调查已于7月初完成，但官员们尚未公布调查结果。在给CBS新闻的一份声明中，陆军发言人呼吁各方“保持耐心”，并表示五角大楼“目前不会就报告的具体细节、个人说法或泄露的部分内容置评”。
爱荷华州第103持续保障司令部的一名发言人拒绝置评，而针对准将巴恩斯的多次采访请求均未得到回应。
国会民主党人敦促举行委员会听证会
与科克一家一样等待陆军调查结果的还有两党20多名国会民主党议员，他们敦促众议院和参议院军事委员会就此次致命袭击举行调查听证会。
本周，他们致函两党各自委员会的主席——堪萨斯州共和党参议员罗杰·威克和阿拉巴马州众议员迈克·罗杰斯，信中援引了CBS新闻关于此次袭击的多篇报道。签署该信的议员包括退伍军人议员、纽约州众议员帕特·瑞安和科罗拉多州众议员杰森·克劳。签署者还包括明尼苏达州参议员艾米·克洛布查尔和蒂娜·史密斯——遇难总军士长妮可·阿莫尔的家乡州议员。
“国会必须就导致袭击的失误，以及随后对幸存者和遇难者家属的不当处理找到答案，”信中写道。“我们敦促你们举行公开听证会，以查明为何[国防部]未为此次袭击做好充分准备，以及为何未能确保受伤军人获得所需的治疗。本届政府继续要求国会为这场战争提供更多资源，我们再也不能坐等国防部决定何时回答这些问题。”
两位委员会主席的办公室均未回应对CBS新闻关于此信的置评请求。
参议院周四再次否决了一项旨在限制特朗普总统对伊朗战争权力的决议，尽管民主党主导的这项努力获得了一名新的共和党支持者。
此次投票结果为49票对50票，四名共和党议员——缅因州参议员苏珊·柯林斯、阿拉斯加州参议员丽莎·穆尔科斯基、肯塔基州参议员兰德·保罗和北卡罗来纳州参议员汤姆·蒂利斯与民主党议员一起投票推进该法案。宾夕法尼亚州参议员约翰·费特曼是唯一一名投反对票的民主党议员。
该决议原本将指示总统“将美国武装部队从针对伊朗伊斯兰共和国或其政府、军队任何部分的敌对行动中撤出，包括可能以作战角色部署的地面部队或用于占领的部队，除非获得战争宣言或针对伊朗的具体使用军事 force授权”。
迈克尔·卡普兰和凯特琳·伊利克对本文亦有贡献。
Commander rejected plans to rebase farther from Iran before deadly drone strike, sources say
September 24, 2026 / 9:01 PM EDT / CBS News
By
Jonah Kaplan Investigative Reporter
Jonah Kaplan is an award-winning correspondent and investigative journalist who has built a strong reputation for his balanced reporting, thoughtful interviews, and deeply researched coverage of high-impact issues affecting the communities across the country. Based in Minneapolis, his work appears on all of CBS News’ programs and platforms, including the CBS Evening News, CBS Mornings and CBS 24/7.
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The dozens of U.S. troops bombarded by Iranian drones at a small Kuwaiti port in the opening days of the Iran war could have relocated to safer positions in western Saudi Arabia, multiple sources told CBS News, but those plans were rejected by the unit’s commanding general despite intelligence warning of a potential attack on their post.
About one week before the launch of Operation Epic Fury, most American soldiers and Air Force personnel stationed in Kuwait were moved to Jordan and Saudi Arabia — farther away from Iranian missile range. At least two options were scouted, planned and presented to the leadership of the 103rd Sustainment Command, the Army Reserve unit that ran logistics for U.S. Central Command: one was Logistical Support Area (LSA) Jenkins, a U.S. military base near the southwest port city of Yanbu, and another was Prince Sultan Air Force Base, just southeast of the Saudi capital city Riyadh.
A third option, supported by the commander, Brig. Gen. Clint Barnes, was to follow the playbook from the unit that was previously deployed to Kuwait before the 103rd arrived in September 2025. During the 12-day war between Israel and Iran that July, the active unit briefly moved from their home base at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait to Port of Shuaiba, roughly 30 miles south of Kuwait City and just 65 miles southwest of Iran.
“That was a totally different scenario,” one service member, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media, told CBS News. “Missiles and drones were flying overhead between Iran and Israel and we were more worried about one of them being intercepted and falling out of the sky.”
The U.S., Israel and other allies joined in shooting down dozens of the Iranian ballistic missiles fired at Israel that summer, but Iran never directly targeted U.S. positions in the Mideast.
By late fall 2025, however, Army intelligence began to map out potential Iranian retaliation scenarios in the event the U.S. became more engaged in military activity against the Iranian regime.
In January, the sources said Army intelligence began briefing Barnes that Port of Shuaiba was a potential target, but in the days before the launch of Operation Epic Fury, he nonetheless chose to move the unit there instead of Saudi Arabia.
“Shuaiba was the easy button,” another service member said.
The Army on Thursday declined comment. CBS News has also reached out to Barnes but has not received a response.
The revelations are the latest in a series of whistleblower accounts made by active and reserve service members regarding the decision-making process leading up to and following the deadliest attack of the war. Six U.S. troops were killed in the strike on March 1, and more than 20 were wounded.
Photo obtained by CBS News shows damage from the Iranian drone attack that killed six U.S. service members in Kuwait on March 1, 2026.
Notably, Prince Sultan Air Force Base, one of the other options for the unit’s relocation, was also attacked by Iranian fire. Pictures obtained exclusively by CBS News showed damage to a large Air Force jet, though there were no reported deaths as a result of the strikes on PSAB.
U.S. Army Central and Third Army this summer ordered a Pentagon probe “to determine the facts and circumstances” of the Iranian attack at Port of Shuaiba, but before the review was underway, a CBS News investigation began shedding light on what several survivors of the attack described as “strategic failures” ahead of, during and after the strike.
One day after the deadly strike, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described the Iranian drone as a “squirter” — suggesting that the drone managed to slip past the defenses of a fortified unit inside Kuwait. In April, one of the injured soldiers told CBS News that “painting a picture that ‘one squeaked through’” was not accurate. The soldier said the unit was “unprepared to provide any defense for itself. It was not a fortified position.”
Jim and Stacey Khork, the Gold Star parents of Maj. Cody Khork, told CBS News in an exclusive interview that their son, as one of the unit’s force protection officers, was among the key soldiers warning Barnes of the site’s vulnerability.
“My son died unnecessarily,” Stacey Khork lamented. “Yes, he died for my country. Yes, he was a patriot. Yes, he was a hero. I hate to use the word murder because it’s strong, but if a loved one of yours was murdered, our justice system is built to have accountability and to have atonement for that and for the grief of the family.”
CBS News spoke with other survivors of the blast who detailed requests to leadership for more resources ahead of the strike. Those requests focused on the number of medical personnel as well as the availability and accessibility of medical supplies.
“This was a failure,” Maj. Stephen Ramsbottom said in an interview with CBS News in May, adding he believed Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, another of the six soldiers killed, could have survived her wounds had there been a doctor, a fixed aid station or more than one ambulance at the post. The soldiers, according to witnesses, instead triaged themselves with makeshift bandages, braces and tourniquets. They commandeered civilian vehicles to drive the wounded to two local Kuwaiti hospitals.
The Pentagon has repeatedly pushed back on claims that the Army tried to downplay the incident. In a post on X in March addressing prior CBS News reporting on the strike, Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said “every possible measure has been taken to safeguard our troops — at every level” and that “[t]he secure facility was fortified with 6-foot walls.”
Earlier this month, an Army spokesperson confirmed to the Khorks and CBS News that its probe into the deadly Iranian attack was completed in early July, but officials have yet to release it. In a statement to CBS News, an Army spokesperson asked for “patience” and said the Pentagon “will not comment on specific details, individual accounts, or leaked portions of the report at this time.”
A spokesperson for the Iowa-based 103rd Sustainment Command declined comment, while multiple requests to Brig. Gen. Barnes have gone unanswered.
Congressional Democrats urge committee hearings
As families like the Khorks await findings from the Army, more than 20 congressional Democrats from both chambers are urging the House and Senate Armed Services Committees to hold investigative hearings on the deadly strike.
A new letter sent this week to GOP Sen. Roger Wicker of Kansas and Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, the chairmen of their respective committees, cited multiple CBS News reports on the attack. Lawmakers who signed the letter include military veterans Rep. Pat Ryan of New York and Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado. Signatories also include Senators Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith of Minnesota, the home state of Master Sgt. Nicole Amor.
“It is critical that Congress gets answers on the failures that led to the attacks, and on the subsequent mistreatment of survivors and families of those killed,” the letter reads. “We urge you to hold public hearings to determine why [the Department of Defense] was not properly prepared for this attack and why it has failed to ensure that injured service members get access to the care they need. As the administration continues to ask Congress for more resources for this war, we can no longer afford to wait for DoD to deign when they are going to answer these questions.”
The chairmen’s respective offices did not respond to inquiries from CBS News about the letter.
The Senate on Thursday again rejected a resolution aimed at limiting President Trump’s war powers in Iran, though the Democrat-led effort picked up one new GOP supporter.
In a 49-50 vote, four Republicans — Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina — joined Democrats in voting to advance the measure. Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to oppose.
The resolution would have directed the president to “remove the use of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran or any part of its government or military, including potential ground forces in a combat role or used for occupation, unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization for use of military force against Iran.”
Michael Kaplan and Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report.