A recent Iranian drone strike on the US embassy in Saudi Arabia caused more damage than initially reported, potentially putting hundreds at risk, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The Iranian drone strike on the US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia last month appears to have caused more damage than initially revealed, according to a Wall Street Journal report published on Friday.
When the attack occurred in March, the Saudi Defense Ministry claimed it caused a limited fire and minor damage. However, current and former American officials contradicted this assessment in their statements to the WSJ.
The first Iranian drone successfully evaded the Saudi air defenses protecting Riyadh’s Diplomatic Quarter and crashed into the American embassy compound. A minute later, a second drone entered the hole created by the first and also exploded, the officials said.
The strikes penetrated a secure area of the embassy where several hundred people would typically be working during the day, severely damaging three floors. Officials noted that “if it had occurred during working hours, it could have been a mass-casualty event.”
Among the areas hit was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) station, sources familiar with the situation told the WSJ.
A 'limited' fire?
The "limited fire" originally described by the Saudi Defense Ministry, according to the WSJ, lasted half a day and caused extensive damage to three floors of the embassy, which are now deemed unrecoverable.
In the hours following the fire, the Saudi Ministry of Defense announced that it had intercepted and destroyed eight drones near the cities of Riyadh and Al-Kharj.
The recent WSJ report further elaborated that one of the drones was believed to have been aimed at the residence of the highest-ranking US diplomat, located just a few hundred feet from the embassy.
Bernard Hudson, a former CIA counterterrorism chief with extensive experience in Persian Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, commented on the situation to the WSJ regarding US embassies and bases, “There’s been a complete blackout on the actual amount of damage done to these places.”
“That feeds suspicions that a lot more damage may have actually happened,” he added.
Hudson noted, “It [the Iranian regime] was able to produce an indigenously made weapon, fire it across hundreds of miles, and hit the embassy of their top opponent, which indicates they could have targeted anything in the city.”
This is not the only instance of Iran successfully targeting US outposts since the war with Iran began in February of this year.
In March, Iranian missiles struck the US military base at Prince Sultan in Saudi Arabia, damaging several refueling aircraft and wounding at least 10 US servicemen.
In February, a US base in Bahrain was also targeted; however, the missile landed in an unoccupied area of the base.
Goldie Katz and Tobias Holcman contributed to this report.
