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US intelligence has opened a quiet, high-stakes investigation into whether Russia helped Iran strike CIA facilities across the Gulf.
Four people familiar with the matter told Reuters that analysts are scrutinizing Moscow's possible role in supplying targeting data, technical support or upgraded drone systems used in the March attacks. Investigators have not yet reached firm conclusions, but the strikes' precision has raised red flags.
At least two CIA facilities were hit that month. One was the CIA station housed inside the US Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and the other was a CIA-linked site in eastern Iraq.
Sources said additional facilities were also struck, but they declined to disclose locations given the sensitivity of the operations, with one source estimating the total fell "more than one and fewer than a dozen."
An internal memo from a Western intelligence agency reportedly concluded that Russia likely played a role in the targeting. A regional official familiar with the classified assessment described its findings to Reuters, though the official would not identify which agency produced it.
Two Western officials in the Gulf said analysts believe the Riyadh strike involved Russian-enhanced versions of Iran's Shahed drones, with one aircraft blasting a hole through the embassy's exterior before a second flew through and detonated. No casualties were reported.
Investigators are also examining whether Moscow supplied the Kometa-M satellite navigation system, which experts say is significantly harder to jam than Iran's native equipment, to boost the Shahed-136's accuracy. The Wall Street Journal first reported the transfer in March, a claim the Kremlin dismissed as "fake news." Analysts have not ruled out the possibility that Iran was simply targeting the embassy broadly and struck the CIA station by coincidence.
Concerns over Russia's involvement intensified after Iranian missile strikes on a US air base in Jordan killed two American soldiers over the weekend. Neither Washington nor Moscow has commented publicly on the allegations. Former CIA station chief Daniel Hoffman said deepening cooperation between Moscow and Tehran wouldn't be surprising, noting the two nations "share an interest in trying to reduce or eliminate US influence altogether in their self-designated spheres of influence."
