Russia May Have Helped Iran Hit CIA Sites, Says Report

U.S. intelligence analysts are investigating whether Russia helped Iran target CIA facilities in the Gulf with drone strikes, including an attack on the CIA station in Saudi Arabia.

U.S. intelligence analysts are trying to figure out whether Russia played a role in helping Iran carry out drone strikes on CIA facilities in the Gulf region, according to Reuters, which cited four people familiar with U.S. intelligence. The question is whether Moscow supplied targeting information, advanced drone technology, or both.

Reuters reported that these sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, said intelligence officials have not landed on any firm conclusions yet about Russia’s possible role. Still, they pointed to how effective and precise the strikes turned out to be, along with Russia’s already established pattern of helping Iran technically, as reasons the theory is being taken seriously.

At least two CIA sites were hit back in March. One was the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, based inside the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, and the other was located in eastern Iraq. Some sources told the publication that additional CIA sites had also been struck, though they didn’t share further specifics.

Two Western officials in the Gulf who had been briefed on the intelligence said analysts believe the attack in Saudi Arabia involved a pair of Russian enhanced versions of Iran’s Shahed drones. According to their account, one drone punched a hole through a weak point in the embassy’s outer structure, and a second drone flew through that same opening before detonating. No one was killed or hurt in the attack.

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Worries about Russian involvement grew over the weekend following a strike on a U.S. air base in Jordan, where Iran hit army barracks with ballistic missiles and killed American soldiers.

A separate source told the publication that Russia has specifically helped improve the accuracy of Iran’s Shahed 136 drones by providing a satellite navigation system known as the Kometa M. Experts say this system is significantly more precise and much harder to jam compared to the navigation technology Iran produces on its own.

This isn’t the first time this particular piece of technology has come up. The Wall Street Journal reported back in March that Russia had supplied the Kometa M system to Iran, a claim the Kremlin denied at the time, calling the report fake news.