A CNN investigation has found that 14 Russian spy satellites, including the advanced Kosmos-2573, passed over Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia in the two days before Iran launched a devastating strike there on March 27. U.S. officials and international intelligence sources say the satellites, some capable of capturing high-resolution imagery and others able to intercept communications and locate air defenses, gave Iran an unusually detailed picture of the base before the attack. The strike wounded roughly a dozen American service members and destroyed a KC-135 refueling tanker along with an AWACS early-warning aircraft worth hundreds of millions of dollars, a plane that had been deliberately moved off its usual parking spot before the war began, yet was still found and hit. Officials say the pattern was not limited to one incident, with similar Russian satellite activity reportedly helping Iran strike a CIA-linked site in Riyadh as well.

Moscow has firmly denied providing any such assistance to Tehran, even as the broader Russia-Iran relationship continues to deepen. Iran has supplied Shahed attack drones that Russia has used extensively in its war on Ukraine, and officials now say Moscow appears to be returning the favor with satellite intelligence that helped Iran target American forces across the Middle East. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly backed the assessment, saying he is certain Russia is sharing this kind of intelligence with Iran. The allegations, while not independently confirmed beyond the officials cited, point to a widening web of cooperation between two U.S. adversaries that Washington is now watching closely.