A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the
launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam satellite from the
Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome at the scheduled time of 05:52 GMT
(11:22am).
The Russian mission control confirmed its subsequent entry
into orbit.
Iran, which has maintained ties with Moscow and refrained
from criticism of the Ukraine invasion, has sought to deflect suspicions that
Moscow could use Khayyam to spy on Ukraine.
Last week, US daily The Washington Post quoted anonymous
Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia "plans to use the
satellite for several months or longer" to assist its war efforts before
allowing Iran to take control.
But the Iranian Space Agency said on Sunday that the Islamic
republic would control the Khayyam satellite "from day one".
"No third country is able to access the
information" sent by the satellite due to its "encrypted
algorithm," it said.
The purpose of Khayyam is to "monitor the country's
borders", enhance agricultural productivity and monitor water resources
and natural disasters, the space agency said.
In a pre-launch statement on Monday ISA praised "the
high reliability factor of the Soyuz launcher".
"Due to Khayyam satellite's weight of more than half a
ton and the very high success rate of the Soyuz launcher, the launch of the
Khayyam satellite has been entrusted to Russia," the statement on the
space agency's website noted.
As Moscow's international isolation grows under the weight
of Western sanctions over Ukraine, the Kremlin is seeking to pivot Russia
towards the Middle East, Asia and Africa and find new clients for the country's
embattled space programme.
Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian counterpart
Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last month -
one of his few trips abroad since the invasion began.
'Long-term cooperation'
Khayyam, apparently named after the 11th-century Persian
polymath Omar Khayyam, will not be the first Iranian satellite that Russia has
put into space- in 2005, Iran's Sina-1 satellite was deployed from Russia's
Plesetsk cosmodrome.
Iran is currently negotiating with world powers, including
Moscow, to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
The United States - which quit the landmark Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA under then-president Donald Trump in 2018
- has accused Iran of effectively supporting Russia's war against Ukraine while
adopting a "veil of neutrality".
During his meeting with Putin last month, Iran's Khamenei
called for "long-term cooperation" with Russia, and Tehran has
refused to join international condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its
pro-Western neighbour.
Iran insists its space programme is for civilian and defence
purposes only, and does not breach the 2015 nuclear deal, or any other
international agreement.
Western governments worry that satellite launch systems
incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles
capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, something Iran has always denied
wanting to build.
Iran successfully put its first military satellite into
orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States.