Russian rocket launches Iranian satellites into orbit
The launch comes as Moscow and Tehran have made efforts to expand ties in various spheres.
A Russian rocket has blasted off successfully carrying a pair of Iranian satellites into orbit, a launch that reflected growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.
The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled on Tuesday from the Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia and placed its payload into a designated orbit nine minutes after the launch.
It was carrying two Russian Ionosphere-M Earth observation satellites and several dozen smaller satellites, including the two Iranian ones.
Iran’s two satellites, named Kowsar and Hodhod, were the first launched on behalf of the country’s private sector.
In 2022, a Russian rocket launched an Iranian Earth observation satellite called Khayyam which was built in Russia on Tehran’s order. In February Russia put another Iranian satellite named Pars-1 into orbit.
Tuesday’s launch comes as Russia and Iran have expanded ties in various spheres.
Ukraine and the West have accused Tehran of providing Moscow with hundreds of exploding drones for use on the battlefield in Ukraine and helped launch their production in Russia.
The Iranian drone deliveries, which Moscow and Tehran have denied, have allowed for a constant barrage of long-range drone strikes at Ukraine’s infrastructure.
Moscow and Tehran are planning to bolster their ties with a “comprehensive strategic partnership” to be signed during Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s planned visit to Russia. The date for that visit has not been set, but the Kremlin said it could happen soon.
Tuesday’s successful launch of the Iranian satellites atop a Russian rocket follows a series of failed launches suffered by Iran’s civilian space program in recent years. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, a satellite-carrying rocket.
A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time.
A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of then-President Donald Trump, who taunted Iran with a tweet showing what appeared to be a US surveillance photo of the site.
At the same time, a separate Iranian space programme run by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard has seen successful launches from a military base outside of Shahroud, 215 miles east of the capital Tehran.
Satellite images analysed by The Associated Press show Israel likely bombed the site during its October 26 retaliatory strike on Iran.
The US intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year said Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.
Tehran has enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes.
US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organised military nuclear program up until 2003.
