Iranian attacks on CIA facilities in Gulf prompts probe into Russian assistance

INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS IN THE United States are looking into the possibility that Russia may have given Iranian targeters information about the location of secret Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) facilities in the Gulf. According to the Reuters news agency, Iran has managed to strike “several” CIA facilities in at least three countries in the Middle East in the past few months. Some of the strikes appear to have been surgically targeted at specific buildings, and even parts of buildings.

The CIA maintains official stations inside American embassy facilities throughout the Gulf. But the agency also manages an extensive network of offices, logistics hubs, safe houses, and surveillance or other operational facilities throughout the region. The location of these facilities is highly classified and compartmentalized even within the CIA itself. According to intelligence sources cited by Reuters, few nations other than Russia possess the necessary resources to map the precise locations of CIA facilities and the desire to share them with Tehran.

Citing “four people familiar with US intelligence”, Reuters said that Iran has managed to successfully target “more than one and fewer than a dozen” CIA facilities in the Gulf since March. Among them is a secret facility in Iraq, as well as the CIA station in Saudi Arabia, which is located inside the US embassy complex in Riyadh. According to reports, Tehran deployed an advanced version of its Shahed and Mohajer drones to demolish the exterior wall of the CIA station before another set of kamikaze drones burst into the interior of the facility. Some analysts believe that the kinetic capabilities of the drones used in the attack had been enhanced using Russian technical expertise.

The Reuters report added that Moscow has a longstanding intelligence-sharing relationship with Iran and has been known to provide Tehran with targeting information and other forms of support. This relationship only strengthened since the onset of the current war between the US, Israel, and Iran. However, the report states that intelligence officials have yet to draw firm conclusions about Russia’s precise role in the Iranian attacks on CIA facilities.

► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 23 July 2026 | Research credit: M.J. | Permalink