US intelligence agencies are investigating whether Russia helped Iran locate and strike CIA facilities in the Gulf, following Iranian drone attacks on at least two agency sites in March, including the US embassy in Riyadh. The probe was prompted after debris from a Shahed-136 drone recovered from a strike on a British base in Cyprus contained a Russian Kometa-M anti-jamming navigation system.
Western sources say Moscow supplied the satellite-based system to sharpen the accuracy of Iran's drones, and two Russian-upgraded Shaheds were reportedly used in the Riyadh attack. Russia has denied the allegations. Security analyst Joachim Krause suggested the strikes may be retaliation for CIA sharing of intelligence on Russian military infrastructure with Ukraine.
The revelations come as US strikes on Iran entered a 12th consecutive night and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Manila on the margins of a Southeast Asian summit.