Report: How 14 Russian Satellites Helped Iran Target a U.S. Base

Russia provided Iran with space-based intelligence during its campaign against the United States, helping Tehran identify assets and activity at U.S. bases in the Middle East, CNN reported overnight Tuesday into Wednesday. The Kremlin has denied allegations in recent months that Russia assisted Iran.

According to the report, Russian spy satellites collected information on the locations of U.S. assets and on activity inside bases in the region. The intelligence passed to Tehran helped it carry out precise attacks against American targets during the campaign.

One such incident took place at the end of March, when Iran attacked the U.S.-Saudi Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. Twelve American soldiers were injured, and the base sustained heavy damage. Among other losses, a U.S. AWACS command-and-control aircraft, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, was destroyed, even though it was not parked at the location where it had been routinely stationed before the war.

CNN reported that shortly before the attack, 14 Russian satellites passed over the base, including an advanced spy satellite. Some were capable of photographing the base, while others could intercept communications and identify air-defense systems.

U.S. officials are concerned that Russia may have provided Iran with similar intelligence in other cases as well, including information that helped in an attack on a CIA asset in Riyadh.

The assistance comes amid increasingly close ties between Moscow and Tehran. After Iran supplied Russia with drones during the war in Ukraine, Russia supported it during the campaign against the United States and Israel through intelligence-sharing and shipments of advanced drones. During the fighting, Israel also struck targets in the Caspian Sea, through which shipments between the two countries pass.