Russia launched a satellite created for Iran

Project progress

2022: Launch of the Khayyam satellite

On August 9, 2022, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome, which successfully launched the Iranian Khayyam space satellite into orbit. The device is designed for scientific research, development of technologies of inter-satellite communication channels, measurement of the level of electromagnetic radiation, remote sensing of the Earth and monitoring of the environmental situation.

In early August 2022, The Washington Post (WP), citing its sources, wrote that Western intelligence agencies fear that Iran will use a satellite launched from Baikonur for military intelligence, primarily to monitor the territory of Israel and the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf. In addition, according to sources of the publication, at first Russia will allegedly use the satellite for military purposes.

The launch of Khayyam is another evidence of the expansion of military and political cooperation between Moscow and Tehran, WP notes. The launch announcement comes two weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Iran and his meeting with Islamic Republic Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Tehran insists that the appointment of Khayyam is purely civil, and denies that Moscow will have access to satellite control. The Iranian space agency said that from the very first day of the device's operation, Iranian specialists will control its work.^[1]

2015: Conclusion of an agreement between Russia and Iran

Russia and Iran signed an agreement to create a space system for remote sensing of the Earth in 2015. According to the document, VNIIEM Corporation began to be responsible for the development and launch of the satellite, the scientific and production concern BARL began to refine the ground infrastructure, and the Iranian company Boniyan Danesh Sharg acted as the operator of the space system.

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