According to the Iranian Space Agency, this satellite will “monitor the country’s borders”, improve agricultural productivity, control water resources and natural disasters.
Russia launched an Iranian observation satellite from Kazakhstan on Tuesday amid fears some Western officials feared Moscow would use it to support its offensive in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.
The Khayyam remote sensing satellite was launched by a Soyuz rocket from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:52 a.m., according to images transmitted live by Russia’s Roscosmos space agency.
military targets
According to Iranian Space, this satellite, named in honor of the Persian poet and scholar Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), aims in particular to “monitor the borders of the country”, improve agricultural productivity, control water resources and natural disasters Agency. For the United States, Iran’s space program is for military rather than commercial purposes, while Tehran claims its aerospace activities are peaceful and in line with a UN Security Council resolution.
Also readA new Iranian satellite in late August
SEE ALSO – In Ukraine, an occupied region is preparing to vote on its union with Russia
This time, however, Iranian authorities have had to defend themselves against allegations of a different nature after American daily The Washington Post reported that Russia plans to use the satellite as part of its offensive in Ukraine for “several months” before handing it over control of Iran. “All orders related to the control and operation of this satellite will be issued by Iranian experts based at the Iranian Communications Ministry from day one and immediately after launch,” the Iranian Space Agency said in a statement Sunday.
“False allegations
“No third country can access the data sent by the satellite using an ‘encryption algorithm’,” she assured, denouncing the American newspaper’s “false” claims. In October 2005, Russia launched the first Iranian satellite, Sina-1, from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome (northwest of Russia). The Khayyam will be launched three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s July 19 visit to Iran, where he met his counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on July 19. The latter had called for strengthening “long-term cooperation” with Russia.
In June 2021, the Russian president dismissed Washington Post reports claiming that Moscow was preparing to provide Iran with a sophisticated satellite to boost its spying capabilities. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army, announced in March the launch of a new military reconnaissance satellite called Nour-2, following the launch of the first, Nour-1, in April 2020.
Also read France condemns the launch of an Iranian military satellite
SEE ALSO – The Pentagon announces another $1 billion tranche of military aid to Ukraine
The launch of the Khayyam satellite also comes as Iranian nuclear talks between Iran, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany have resumed after several months of deadlock in Vienna to salvage the 2015 deal The Under The pact, known by the English acronym JCPOA, aims to guarantee the civilian nature of Iran’s nuclear program, which has been accused of acquiring nuclear weapons despite its opposition. But after the unilateral US withdrawal in 2018 at the instigation of Donald Trump and the reintroduction of American sanctions, Tehran has gradually freed itself from its obligations.