Russia on Tuesday launched an Iranian surveillance satellite from Kazakhstan amid fears by some Western officials that Moscow would use it to support its offensive in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.
Russia’s Roscosmos space agency’s Khayam satellite launched live on a Soyuz rocket from Russia’s Baikonur space station at 7:52 a.m.
Military objectives
Named after the Persian poet and scholar Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), this satellite aims specifically to “control the country’s bordersimprove agricultural productivity, control water resources and natural disasters, according to Iran’s space agency. Head of Roscosmos Yuri Borisov welcomed “the significant milestone of Russian-Iranian bilateral cooperation, which paves the way for the creation of new and bigger projects;in a post-launch statement. For his part, the Minister of Telecommunications of Iran, Isa Zarepour, highly appreciated the event.historical“and”a turning point for the start of new space cooperation between the two countries“. For the United States, Iran’s space program is more for military than commercial purposes, while Tehran insists its space activities are peaceful and comply with a UN Security Council resolution.
This time, however, after the American daily, the Iranian authorities had to defend themselves against other kinds of accusations The Washington Post reported that Russia”plans to use the satellite for several monthsas part of its offensive in Ukraine before handing over control to Iran. “All orders related to the management and operation of this satellite will be given from the first day and immediately after the launch by Iranian experts stationed in the Ministry of Communications of Iran.This was stated in a statement issued by Iran’s space agency on Sunday.
“False” accusations
“No third country can access the data” sent via satellite “coding algorithm“He assured, denying the allegations.”falsefrom an American newspaper. In October 2005, Russia had already launched the first Iranian satellite, Sina-1, from Plesetsk space (northwest of Russia). Khayam will be launched three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran on July 19, where he met with his counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 19. The latter called to strengthen “long-term cooperationwith Russia.
In June 2021, the Russian president denied the information washington post: claiming that Moscow is preparing to provide a sophisticated satellite to Iran to improve its spying capabilities. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, announced in March the launch of a new military intelligence satellite called Nur-2, the first since the launch of Nur-1 in April 2020.
The launch of the Khayam satellite also comes as Iranian nuclear talks involving Iran, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany have resumed after months of deadlock in Vienna to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal. The deal, known by its English acronym, JCPOA, aims to guarantee the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program, which is accused of acquiring nuclear weapons despite denials. However, after the unilateral withdrawal of the United States at the instigation of Donald Trump in 2018 and the restoration of American sanctions, Tehran gradually released itself from its obligations.
Source: Le Figaro
