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Aug 9, 2022
N.B.: This article is a translation of the dispatch from Agence France Press (AFP), see the editor's note at the end of this article.
Soyuz-2.1b carrying Khayyam satellite liftoff
Russia launched an Iranian observation satellite from Kazakhstan on Tuesday amid concerns that some Western officials feared that 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 0552 GMT, according to images broadcast live by Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Soyuz-2.1b launches Khayyam
Video above: A Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched the Khayyam satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on 9 August 2022, at 05:52 UTC (10:52 local time). Khayyam is an Earth observation satellite operated by the Iranian Space Agency (ISA).
The satellite, named in honor of the Persian poet and scholar Omar Khayyam (1048-1131), was then placed into orbit.
Its aims include "monitoring the country's borders", improving agricultural productivity, controlling water resources and natural disasters, according to the Iranian Space Agency.
For the United States, the Iranian space program is intended for more military than commercial purposes, while Tehran maintains that its aerospace activities are peaceful and in accordance with a resolution of the Security Council of the United Nations.
This time, the Iranian authorities, however, had to defend themselves against accusations of a different type, after the American daily The Washington Post reported that Russia "plans to use the satellite for several months" as part of its offensive in Ukraine. before handing control over to Iran.
"All orders related to the control and operation of this satellite will be issued from the first day and immediately after the launch by Iranian experts based in the Iranian Ministry of Communications," the Iranian Space Agency said in a statement on Sunday.
"False" accusations
"No third country can access the data" sent by the satellite via an "encryption algorithm", she assured, denouncing the "false" assertions of the American newspaper.
In October 2005, Russia had already launched the first Iranian satellite, Sina-1, from the cosmodrome of Plesetsk (north-west of Russia).
The Khayyam was launched three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin visited Iran on July 19, where he met his counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The latter had called for strengthening "long-term cooperation" with Russia.
In June 2021, the Russian president refuted reports from the Washington Post claiming that Moscow was preparing to provide a sophisticated satellite to Iran to improve its espionage capabilities.
The Revolutionary Guards, Iran's ideological army, announced in March the launch of a new military reconnaissance satellite called Nour-2, after the launch of the first, Nour-1, in April 2020.
The launch of the Khayyam satellite also comes at a time when the Iranian nuclear negotiations bringing together Iran, Russia, China, France, the United Kingdom and Germany resumed in Vienna, after a blockage of several months, in order to save the agreement of 2015 .
The European Union put a final text on the table on Monday, but Tehran has not yet given its approval.
The pact known by its English acronym JCPOA aims to guarantee the civilian nature of the Iranian nuclear program, accused of seeking to acquire atomic weapons despite its denials.
But following the unilateral withdrawal of the United States in 2018 at the instigation of Donald Trump and the reinstatement of American sanctions, Tehran has gradually freed itself from its obligations.
Editor's note:
Once again a ridiculous polemic that makes no sense, believing that the Russians would need an Iranian satellite to spy on the Ukrainians is not only stupid but demonstrates that when you are (AFP, Fox News etc...) not a good journalist, it would be better not to write anything and above all to stop illustrating the satellites with the image of a Soyuz spacecraft, here we are going to the end of the ridiculous. The Russians have many military satellites in orbit and they are better and more efficient than this one. Moreover used the pretext that these two countries are under international sanctions (legitimate for one as for the other) to make such a bad article which mix the war in Ukraine and the illegal enrichment of Iranian uranium in order to acquire nuclear weapons, is pathetic and again bad journalism that contributes to misinformation and lacks of objectivity. The only country that could legitimately complain about this launch and question the use of this satellite is Israel.
Signed by a blogger really specialized in space news and obviously much more competent in geopolitics. Roland Berga.
Roscosmos related articles:
Россия запустила в космос спутник для Ирана / Russia launches satellite for Iran
https://www.roscosmos.ru/38069/
Юрий Борисов провел рабочую встречу с министром Ирана / Yuri Borisov held a working meeting with the Minister of Iran
https://www.roscosmos.ru/38071/
Related links:
ROSCOSMOS: https://www.roscosmos.ru/
Iranian Space Agency (ISA): https://isa.ir/en
Image, Video, Text, Credits: ROSCOSMOS/AFP/SciNews/Orbiter.ch Aerospace/Roland Berga.
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