From the article:

President Donald Trump has insisted Iran’s military is “completely destroyed” due to eight months of attacks from American and Israeli firepower. But Tehran continues to strike back with low-cost Shahed drones that have kept the Navy from returning to U.S.-friendly ports in the Middle East and severely damaged an American airbase near Iran. Warnings about Iranian drones even led to the evacuation of all U.S. bombers from Britain’s Fairford air base this week and sent Trump scurrying into a catering cart in July as he left a NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey.

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“What worries me is a growing possibility of ‘drone terrorism’ and ability of different semiorganized groups and vile individuals to act against our infrastructure by cheap, even household made, means,” said a senior European defense official.

American officials are recognizing similar limitations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently established a new combatant command focused on drone warfare, but it will likely be years before it yields results on the battlefield.

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But NATO allies in Europe — unable to pull their forces back to North America — are even more vulnerable. They’re warding off an increasing number of drone incursions into NATO airspace and attempted attacks from Russia. And bases across the alliance are within range of Tehran’s ballistic missiles, leading officials to worry about future Iranian reprisals, according to two NATO diplomats and two European defense officials.

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Military leaders are still weighing whether to rebuild the base in Bahrain — and how to strengthen it if they do. Weeks of ballistic missile and drone attacks damaged the command center, satellite terminals, and logistics warehouses. Some troops had to relocate to Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Florida, and can’t return due to the continuing Iranian threat. Other troops from a Qatar base have been working from Shaw Air Base in South Carolina since the start of the strikes.

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The U.S. military — with its nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, long-range bombers and aerial refueling aircraft — can still operate anywhere on the globe that it chooses. But those powerful ships are all but shut out of the Persian Gulf without the ability to refuel at the Bahrain base. They must get supplies and fuel 2,000 miles away from the Diego Garcia base in the Indian Ocean. And other areas, including an Army logistics hub in Kuwait and the command center in Al Udeid in Qatar are increasingly vulnerable amid dwindling air defense stockpiles and the lack of hardened structures.

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The threat of small, commercially made drones is keenly felt in Europe. The German government recently blamed Russia for an explosives-leaden drone on a runway in Leipzig, and other alliance members have reported incursions of Russian weapons in their airspace.

Bulgaria’s prime minister said Wednesday that two commercial vessels were struck by drones in the Black Sea, in what marked the first attack on shipping in the NATO member’s exclusive economic zone. It is not clear where the drones came from, but up to 10 crew members form one of the ships that sank remain missing.