Russia will put an Iranian observation satellite into orbit on Tuesday, August 9, the launch of which is raising concerns, some Western officials fearing that Moscow will use it to support its offensive in Ukraine, which Tehran denies.
The launch of the Khayyam remote sensing satellite by a Soyuz rocket is scheduled from the Russian Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 7:52 a.m., according to the Russian Space Agency (Roscosmos).
Military objectives
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. , 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 UN Security Council.
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This time, however, the Iranian authorities had to defend themselves against charges of a different kind, 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 will be 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 on July 19.
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.
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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 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.