Russia launched an Iranian satellite into orbit on Tuesday from southern Kazakhstan, according to Russian state space corporation.
The move came just three weeks after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei pledged to work together against the West.
The remote sensing satellite Khayyam, named after the 11th Century Persian poet and philosopher Omar Khayyam, was launched by a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur spaceport into orbit, said Roscosmos.
“The Iranian Khayyam Earth’s remote sensing satellite has been successfully delivered into the designated orbit with the help of a Russian Soyuz-2.1b carrier rocket that blasted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and a Fregat booster,” Roscosmos said.
Read more: US backtracks on Russian purchase of Iranian drones
The launch of the Iranian satellite is a milestone event in Russia-Iran cooperation, according to Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov.
“The successful launch of the satellite for and an order from Iran has become a landmark event in the Russia-Iran bilateral cooperation that paves the way for implementing new and more dimensional projects,” Borisov said.
Meanwhile, Iran has obtained the first data from its Khayyam satellite, according to the Iranian news agency IRNA.
The data included telemetry measurements received by ground stations of the Iranian Space Agency, IRNA said.
1/ Israel is watching closely the rapprochement between Russia and Iran, and the co-op in today's launch of the satellite using a Russian missile. Western diplomats tell me: If it is proven that Iran is helping Russia on the battlefield in Ukraine – there will be consequences
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) August 9, 2022
The Iranian satellite is designed to conduct scientific research, test inter-satellite communications channels technology, measure the level of electromagnetic radiation, carry out Earth’s remote probing and environmental monitoring.
Russia’s increasing cooperation with Iran should be viewed as a major danger to the international community, the State Department said Tuesday as Moscow sent an Iranian satellite into orbit.
A State Department spokesman told Anadolu Agency the US is aware of Russia’s launch of “a satellite with significant spying capabilities on Iran’s behalf.”
Read more: Leaders of Iran, Russia, Turkey to discuss War in Syria in Tehran
“Russia deepening an alliance with Iran is something that the whole world should look at and see as a profound threat,” the spokesman said in an email exchange.
Anadolu with additional input by GVS News Desk