Russian satellite imagery helping Iran strike US sites across Mideast, Ukraine finds

LONDON/PARIS — Russian satellites have made dozens of detailed imagery surveys of military facilities and critical sites across the Middle East to help Iran strike US forces and other targets, according to a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.

The conclusions, reviewed by Reuters, also found that Russian and Iranian hackers were collaborating in the cyber domain. They represent the most detailed account yet of how Russia has provided secret support to Iran since Israel and the US launched their assault on February 28.

Russian satellites, the undated assessment says, made at least 24 surveys of areas in 11 Middle Eastern countries from March 21 to 31, covering 46 “objects,” including US and other military bases and sites, including airports and oil fields.

Within days of being surveyed, military bases and headquarters were targeted by Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, the assessment says, in what it described as a clear pattern.

A Western military source and a separate regional security source tell Reuters that their intelligence also indicated intense Russian satellite activity in the region and said that imagery had been shared with Iran.

Nine surveys covered parts of Saudi Arabia, including five over the King Khalid Military City near Hafar Al-Batin, in what appeared to be an effort to locate elements of the US-made THAAD air defense system, the Ukrainian assessment says.

Areas of Turkey, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates also came under satellite surveillance twice, while places in Israel, Qatar, Iraq, Bahrain, and Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia did once, it says.

In an emerging trend, the assessment adds, Russian satellites are actively surveying the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for a fifth of global oil and LNG flows, where Iran has imposed a de facto blockade to all but “non-hostile vessels.”

Reuters is not able to independently confirm the content of the Ukrainian assessment.

White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales says that no external support for Iran from any country was affecting the operational success of the United States. The Iranian foreign ministry has no immediate comment. The defense ministry in Russia, which invaded Ukraine four years ago, does not respond to a request for comment.