"The development of the Chabahar Space Center has made good progress, and we should soon expect the first launch of four satellites from this base," Hassan Salaria told reporters. He said the launches, set for completion by the end of the Iranian year in March 2026, are meant for observation purposes.

One of the satellites, called Zafar, is a microsatellite designed to produce high-resolution maps and aerial images of sites around the world. According to reports, it can capture images with a resolution of 22 to 80 meters. The satellite is equipped with color cameras that can document oil facilities, mines, jungles, and natural disasters.

Iran also intends to launch experimental satellites named Soleimani, in honor of Qasem Soleimani, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, who was killed in a US strike in Iraq in 2020. In August, Salaria told the Tasnim news agency that this would be the first time Iran launches satellites bearing Soleimani's name.

A US Defense Department intelligence report from 2019 warned that Iran's satellite launch tests could support the development of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In January 2024, European powers cautioned that the launch of a satellite aboard a Qaem 100 rocket served as a cover for testing technology critical to developing long-range ballistic missiles.

In other words, the launches are not only aimed at enhancing Iran's surveillance capabilities but also at advancing its ballistic missile program.

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A recent report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) suggests that China's suspected intelligence-gathering capabilities in Cuba are expanding, with one alleged site situated close to the US naval base at Guantánamo Bay. The Washington DC-based think tank's findings, reported by Business Insider, raise concerns about the growing reach of China's surveillance operations in the Caribbean.

According to the CSIS analysis, which utilized satellite imagery and open-source information, four "active" sites in Cuba have been identified as potentially capable of conducting electronic surveillance operations. These facilities are believed to be linked to China, though the exact nature of their operations remains unconfirmed.

The report's findings are particularly noteworthy due to the strategic location of one of the suspected sites. Its proximity to the Guantánamo Bay naval base, a key US military installation, underscores the potential intelligence value of such operations.

The Cuban government has not yet responded to these allegations. Similarly, Chinese officials have not commented on the CSIS report or the claims of surveillance operations in Cuba.

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Iran claimed on Wednesday that it has successfully put an imaging satellite into space. The state-run IRNA news agency, quoting the country's Communication Minister Isa Zarepour, said the Noor-3 satellite had been put in an orbit 450 kilometers (280 miles) above the Earth's surface.

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There was no immediate acknowledgment from Western officials of the launch or of the satellite being put into orbit. Iran has had a series of failed launches in recent years.

Zarepour said the aerospace arm of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guards launched the satellite carrier, which has had success in launching satellites from its previously secret launch program. Authorities did not immediately release images of the launch.

Video: Iran displays drones and missiles at military parade / Credit: Reuters

The United States has alleged that Iran's satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and has called on Tehran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The US intelligence community's 2022 threat assessment claims such a satellite launch vehicle "shortens the timeline" to an intercontinental ballistic missile for Iran as it uses "similar technologies."

Iran, which has long said it does not seek nuclear weapons, previously maintained that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Iran has maintained its program is for peaceful purposes.

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Iran likely suffered another failed launch of a satellite-carrying rocket in recent days attempting to reinvigorate a program criticized by the West, even as Tehran faces last-minute negotiations with world powers to save its tattered nuclear deal in Vienna.

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Satellite images from Maxar Technologies seen by The Associated Press show scorch marks at a launchpad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran's rural Semnan province on Sunday. A rocket stand on the pad appears scorched and damaged, with vehicles surrounding it. An object, possibly part of the gantry, sits near it.

Successful launches typically don't damage rocket gantries because they are lowered prior to takeoff. Iran also usually immediately trumpets launches that reach space on its state-run television channels, and it has a history of not acknowledging failed attempts.

Separate images from Planet Labs PBC suggest the attempted launch likely occurred sometime after Friday. Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment, nor did the U.S. military and the White House.

The rocket involved appears to have been Iran's Zuljanah satellite launch vehicle, said Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies who first noticed the attempted launch with colleagues.

The gantry apparently damaged in the launch resembled another that was previously used in a successful launch last year of a Zuljanah, named after a horse of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad and a key figure in the Shiite faith who was massacred with his fighters at Karbala in the 7th century.

It remains unclear what could have caused the blast. The first two stages of a Zuljanah are solid fuel, but its final stage is liquid and would have needed to be fueled on the launch pad, Lewis said.

"This just looks like it got interrupted, like something exploded," Lewis told AP.

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Israeli satellite operator Spacecom said on Tuesday it had signed a preliminary deal to sell 51% of the company to Budapest-based 4iG for 215 million shekels ($66 million).

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The companies signed a non-binding letter of intent with a period of exclusivity ending August 15. Any deal will need regulatory approval, including from Israel's Communications Ministry.

Spacecom operates the AMOS satellite fleet made up of four communication satellites that serve Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

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Former director of the Israel Space Agency and Israel Prize laureate Avi Har-Even died Sunday of injuries sustained during recent rioting in Acre.

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Har-Even, 84 at the time of his death, was hospitalized at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa for smoke inhalation after Arabs lit a fire at a hotel where he had been staying during the riots. Har-Even also sustained burns, and was in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator the entire time he was in the hospital.

Defense Minister Benny Gantz said he had been grieved to hear that Har-Even had died, calling him "Someone who has contributed to the security of Israel is ways that will never be known. Avi, who was injured in the riots in Acre and died of those injuries, was a hero. When we confer this year's Israel Prize, we will remember him and his contribution."

Har-Even began his defense career in the IDF as an officer in the Armored and Artillery Corps. He was one of the founders of the IDF's missile and advanced weaponry programs. He also set up security for the nuclear facility in Dimona.

At the end of his military service, Har-Even served as director of a number of high-tech companies, and later moved to the Israel Aerospace Industries, where he served in a number of administrative and R&D positions. He also headed the team that developed Israel's Shavit satellite lift launch vehicle.

From 1995 to 2004, Har-Even served as director of the Israel Space Agency, where he expanded the ISA's international ties and helped bring about dozens of cooperative ventures between the ISA and other space agencies from around the world.

Current ISA director Professor Isaac Ben-Israel said that Har-Even "laid the foundations to build Israel's current space capabilities, and his contribution is worth its weight in gold."

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Iran has test-launched a new satellite carrier with its "most powerful" solid-fuel engine to date, Iranian state television reported Monday, quoting the country's Defense Ministry.

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According to Ahmad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian Defense Ministry's space division, the test was "the first launch of the Zoljanah hybrid satellite carrier for sub-orbital testing."

"This three-stage carrier can compete with the world's current carriers, and has two stages of solid propulsion and a single liquid one," Hosseini added, noting that the rocket had been launched for "research purposes."

Hosseini said that the Zoljanah carrier was capable of putting satellites into a "500-kilometer [310 mile] altitude orbit and carry a 220-kilogram [1,100-pound]" payload.

He also said the rocket could be launched from a "mobile platform," which provides it with "special capabilities."

Footage released by the state broadcaster showed the rocket being launched in a desert area. The specific place and time of the test were not reported.

However, the Mehr news agency reported that the launch was carried out in the Semnan province, where the government has a space center.

Last April, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launched the country's first military satellite, the Nour, into orbit after a similar launch had failed two months earlier.

The IRGC said that the military satellite orbited the Earth at 425 kilometers [264 miles] and was carried by the Qassed rocket, which used a liquid and solid propulsion similar to that of the Zoljanah model.

This article was first published by i24NEWS.

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The images have now been made public by the Defense Ministry and Israel Aerospace Industries.

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According to a Defense Ministry statement, "Ofek 16 is an electro-optic surveillance satellite with advanced capabilities. The satellite is equipped with high-quality cameras developed by Elbit Systems, with the best performance stats in the market."

Video: Defense Ministry Spokesperson

Meanwhile, the Israel Space Agency has unveiled a national initiative to manufacture satellite cameras, a joint venture by the Defense Ministry and Elbit Systems.

"The national infrastructure, which was founded with an investment of hundreds of millions of shekels, includes laboratories for the manufacture of lenses and mirrors, as well as a vacuum cell that mimics conditions in space and was used to test the satellite camera before it was launched," the Defense Ministry said.

According to the ministry, after the process of in-orbit testing is complete, the Defense Ministry will hand over responsibility for the satellite's operation to Unit 9900, the IDF Intelligence Directorate's geo-intelligence unit, and Ofek-16 will be declared operational.

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Under a 1997 US regulation known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories used in services like Google Earth could show items no smaller than 2 meters (6.56 ft.) across.

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The curb, Israel had argued, would help prevent enemies from using public-domain information to spy on its sensitive sites.

But the US Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs Office said on June 25 it would allow enhanced resolutions of 0.4 meters. In a statement to Reuters, the agency said, "a number of foreign sources" are already producing and disseminating sub-2 m. imagery of Israel.

Amnon Harari, head of space programs at the Defense Ministry, said he believed the move was designed to ease international competition for US commercial satellites, adding: "I don't think [the Americans] asked us" in advance.

"We are in a process of studying what exactly is written there, what exactly the intentions are, what we can respond to, ultimately," Harari told Kan public radio.

"We would always prefer to be photographed at the lowest resolution possible. It's always preferable to be seen blurred, rather than precisely," he said.

Israel worries that Hezbollah and Hamas could use commercial satellite images to plan rocket strikes on key civilian and military infrastructure.

Higher resolution images could also potentially help track the expansion of Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.

Hagit Ofran of Peace Now welcomed the prospect of sharper images. With lower quality photos, she said, "it is difficult to know if what you are seeing is a new house or just a chicken coop."

Google Earth referred Reuters to third-party providers when asked if the US move would affect the satellite images it publishes of Israel and the Palestinian territories.

One such US company, Planet, said in a statement: "When the policy change goes into effect, we will follow the new provisions for providing high-resolution imagery of the region."

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The satellite, to be called Dror-1, will be designed to operate for 15 years, handling Israel's satellite communication needs, and will be built mostly from locally-developed technology.

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The project's estimated cost is $190-$200 million, most of which will be paid for by the state.

According to the deal, Dror-1, which will be the first of a series of future satellites, will be ready for launch within four years.

"The government's decision was made from the understanding that this is a vital capability of the State of Israel and it requires ensuring complete independence in the field while preserving the knowledge and expertise accumulated over the years in Israel," IAI said in a statement.

The Dror-1 satellite will be developed by IAI's Systems Missiles & Space Group, which developed, among other things, the Arrow 2 and 3 defense systems and the Barak 8 surface-to-air missile system.

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