Last month, an Iranian drone struck the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia, causing far more damage than Saudi authorities had previously acknowledged and also attacking CIA The building houses a Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) facility, according to new reports from the Wall Street Journal, citing current and former U.S. officials.The attack occurred in Riyadh on March 3, when a drone broke through the air defense system protecting the diplomatic district of the Saudi capital and attacked the US compound. A second drone followed shortly after, flew into the gap created by the first drone and detonated, officials said.
The attack took place at around 1.30am and hit a secure area of the embassy building. According to officials, three floors suffered severe damage and areas including the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) compound were affected. Although Saudi authorities initially said the incident caused only minor material damage and limited fire, sources told the Wall Street Journal that the fire raged for nearly half a day and left parts of the embassy beyond repair. There were no reports of casualties, but officials said the timing avoided the potential for mass casualties if the attack occurred during business hours.Later that night, more drones were intercepted and debris fell near a kindergarten. A drone is believed to have targeted the home of the top US diplomat in Saudi Arabia.“Its ability to produce a homegrown weapon, fire it hundreds of miles away and drop it into the embassy of their arch-adversary means they can hit anything they want in the city,” said Bernard Hudson, the CIA’s former counterterrorism chief.“There is absolutely no understanding of the actual extent of the damage caused in these places,” he added. “This raises suspicion that more damage may have actually occurred.”The incident is part of a broader escalation in which Iran and its allies are targeting U.S. diplomatic and military sites in the region. Embassies and consulates in Baghdad, Dubai, Kuwait City, Riyadh and Erbil have all been hit by missile or drone attacks, but no Americans were killed.The State Department said it did not disclose specific security measures but confirmed it was monitoring threats in Saudi Arabia and advised citizens to avoid locations associated with Americans.The expanding conflict involving Iran, the United States and Israel, which began on February 28 and has now entered its second month, has heightened tensions in the Middle East and raised concerns about escalation in the wider region. The confrontation began with joint U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran’s military and security infrastructure, prompting Tehran to retaliate with missile and drone strikes on U.S. bases and other regional targets in the Gulf, sparking ongoing exchanges between the two sides. Not only Riyadh, but the US embassy and consulates in Baghdad and Erbil in Iraqi Kurdistan have also been targeted, with attacks reported near US diplomatic facilities amid the ongoing conflict. Similar threats and attack attempts have spread across the Gulf, including in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, according to multiple reports.
