U.S. Suspects Russian Help in Iranian Drone Strikes on CIA Sites in the Gulf

Reuters reported this evening that the Iranian drone strikes on CIA facilities in Gulf countries were carried out with Russian assistance. U.S. intelligence is investigating whether Russia helped Iran with intelligence information and locations, or with advanced drone technology.

Four sources quoted by Reuters said that U.S. intelligence officials have not yet reached conclusions regarding possible Russian involvement in the attacks on the CIA facilities. However, they pointed to the effectiveness of the strikes and their apparent precision, as well as Russia’s broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.

As previously reported, at least two CIA sites were attacked in March. One of the facilities was the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, located at the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, and a separate site was located in eastern Iraq. Some of the sources said that additional CIA sites were hit, but did not disclose details.

Officials in the U.S. military said in March that the attack on the site in Saudi Arabia was carried out by Iran’s Shahed drones, which were upgraded with Russian assistance. One of the aircraft struck the outer section of the American embassy, and the second flew through the entrance and exploded inside the building. Damage was caused, but there were no casualties. Russia, a separate source said, helped Tehran improve the accuracy of its Shahed-136 drones by supplying a satellite navigation system called "Kometa-M."

According to today’s report, concerns that Russia may be providing targeting data to Iran intensified over the weekend after strikes on the American Air Force base in Jordan, where Iran attacked military bases with ballistic missiles and killed two soldiers.