Russia to launch spy satellite for Iran
A new satellite that Russia is preparing to launch on Iran’s behalf next week will greatly enhance Tehran’s ability to spy on military targets across the Middle East – but first, Moscow intends to use the spacecraft to assist its own war effort in Ukraine, according to Western security officials familiar with the matter.
Russia’s Roscosmos space agency announced an August 9 launch date for the satellite, dubbed ‘‘Khayyam’’ after a 12th-century Persian mathematician, in fulfilment of a deal negotiated with Iran over nearly four years. Russia agreed to build and launch the Kanopus-V system, which will include a high-resolution camera that would give Tehran unprecedented capabilities, including near-continuous monitoring of sensitive facilities in Israel and the Persian Gulf.
But Iran may not be able to take control of the satellite right away. Russia, which has struggled to achieve its military objectives in its five-month-old assault on Ukraine, has told Tehran that it plans to use the satellite for several months, or longer, to enhance its surveillance of military targets in that conflict, the two officials said on the condition of anonymity, citing sensitivities surrounding intelligence collection.
The Russian Embassy in Washington declined to comment.
The Biden administration has been closely tracking Iran’s satellite efforts, which have been progressing in parallel with Iran’s development of a more capable missile fleet. Administration officials declined to comment on the pending Russian launch or on Moscow’s reported intentions to use the satellite as part of its ongoing battlefield surveillance in Ukraine.
The developments come as talks resume in the Austrian capital in what some officials describe as a last-ditch effort to salvage the 2015 Iran nuclear accord. The Biden administration is pressing Iran to return to compliance with the deal, which Tehran essentially abandoned after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018.
The pending launch is the latest indicator of increased military and political co-operation between Moscow and Tehran. Its announcement comes two weeks after a visit to Tehran by Russian President Vladimir Putin for meetings with Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who afterward hailed his government’s ‘‘long-term cooperation’’ with Moscow.
Last month, US officials revealed that Iran had offered to supply its top-of-the-line surveillance drones to Russia to help with its war in Ukraine.
Moscow faces intense economic strain because of international sanctions and boycotts on militarily sensitive technology.
The Khayyam satellite will be launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur space station in Kazakhstan. A Roscosmos statement confirmed that Tuesday’s launch would place ‘‘remote sensing equipment into orbit at the request of the Islamic Republic of Iran’’.