US probes possible Russian role in Iranian strikes on CIA sites
Reports say Washington is examining whether Moscow helped Tehran target US intelligence facilities in the Gulf.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
US intelligence officials are examining whether Russia helped Iran carry out drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf, according to Reuters. The inquiry matters because any Russian role would point to deeper military coordination between Moscow and Tehran while the United States is fighting Iran and supporting Ukraine against Russia.
The issue formed part of the backdrop as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. The meeting, held on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian nations, was officially focused on Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Al Jazeera.
Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iranian drone strikes on CIA facilities, including at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia, had led US intelligence to look at whether Russia played a part. The news agency said the accuracy and effectiveness of the attacks raised questions about outside assistance.
Reports point to targeting help
Earlier reports had already raised concern about attacks on US intelligence sites. The Washington Post reported on March 3, citing two people familiar with the matter, that a CIA station at the US embassy in Riyadh had been targeted three days into the US and Israeli war with Iran.
CNN reported on March 6, citing US intelligence sources, that Russia had helped Iran identify the locations of US personnel and aircraft in the Gulf. Reuters’ later account added that US officials were looking at whether Moscow’s role extended to support for Iranian strikes on CIA-linked facilities.
Nicole Grajewski, an assistant professor at the Centre of International Research at Sciences Po university in Paris, told Al Jazeera that Russian involvement was plausible because Iran’s recent attacks appeared more advanced than earlier operations. She said Russia has stronger space-based military capabilities than Iran, while noting that Tehran also has human intelligence networks in the region that are often underestimated.
Moscow and Tehran grow closer
Russia and Iran have expanded military cooperation as both countries face Western sanctions and war, Al Jazeera reported. Grajewski told Al Jazeera that she does not view the relationship only as a short-term alignment, saying the two governments see themselves as facing similar threats and have become more dependent on each other since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Iran has supplied Russia with weapons for the war in Ukraine, including Shahed drones and Fateh-110 ballistic missiles, according to Al Jazeera. The two governments also signed a 20-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Treaty last year that pledged closer defence cooperation.
The Moscow Times reported that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told the State Duma the treaty did not create a military alliance with Iran or require mutual military aid. Russia has also denied reporting by The Wall Street Journal that it supplied Iran with the Kometa-M anti-jamming navigation system for Shahed drones, dismissing that account as false, according to Al Jazeera.
Al Jazeera reported that debris from an attempted Iranian strike on a British Royal Air Force base in Cyprus in March included a Russian Kometa-M system recovered from a Shahed-136 drone. Grajewski told Al Jazeera that Russia may see the US-Iran war as useful to some extent because it draws attention from Ukraine and could strain US power, while Moscow still wants Iran to survive the conflict.
Attacks widen across the region
The US and Iran have stepped up attacks in recent days, according to Al Jazeera. US strikes on Iran continued for a 12th straight night and killed at least two people on Thursday morning at the Shalamcheh crossing on the Iraqi border, Al Jazeera reported.
Iran has responded with attacks on several Gulf countries and Jordan, according to Al Jazeera. Grajewski told the outlet that any Russian help would likely have improved Iran’s operations rather than transformed them, because Iran already has large drone and missile forces of its own.
This story draws on original reporting from Al Jazeera.