After blows to proxies, Iran advances huge space program with Russian assistance
Islamic Republic said to build 54-square-mile complex with spaceport at Chabahar; experts say space technology could enhance Tehran’s long-range missile capabilities
Iran is reportedly building a major spaceport as part of an effort to maintain its regional status following major blows to its proxies across the Middle East.
Bloomberg detailed the Islamic Republic’s plans to build the facility, likened to Florida’s Cape Canaveral, in Chabahar, a launch site close to the equator, making it more efficient for launches.
The site, which was supposed to open last year, will contain a 54-square-mile complex, allowing Iran to launch powerful spacecraft into orbit, the Friday report said.
The program has reportedly raised concerns among Western nations — particularly the US and Israel — that Iranian space technology could be used to advance the country’s intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capabilities.
“Iran’s work on space-launch vehicles — including its two-stage, liquid-fueled Simorgh satellite carrier rocket — likely shortens the timeline to produce an ICBM due to the similarities in technology,” Gen. Anthony Cotton, commander of US Strategic Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee last month.
One of the program’s reported aims is to send to space 20 internet satellites named after Qassem Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Quds Force commander killed by a US drone in 2020.
With more satellites, Iran could better guide its long-range weapons, according to the report. John Sheldon, an Abu Dhabi-based founding partner at AstroAnalytica, a space consulting firm, was quoted as saying the Iranians “could become much more precise in their targeting and have quicker reaction times to launch their own ballistic missile forces to hit targets much more precisely.”
The report did not provide precise figures regarding the costs of the program, though a senior Iranian official reportedly said last November that approximately $11 million would be provided to Iran’s space agency, despite the sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
According to the report, the program is also being supported by Iran’s strategic relationship with Russia, as both countries face sanctions from the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 20-year strategic pact in January.
“What Russia definitely has is the expertise,” Juliana Suess, a researcher at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, was quoted as saying. “That’s something that Iran is after.”
In October, two Iranian-made satellites were sent into orbit from Russia. Iranian drones have also been used throughout Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The advancement of the program has led the UK and the EU to sanction Brigadier General Ali Jafarabadi, who leads the IRGC’s space division. The UK has also sanctioned the Iranian Space Agency.
“Our enemies constantly try to prevent us from standing on our own feet, but this has driven us to achieve scientific and technological advancements,” Pezeshkian said of the program in February.
Matthew Schmidt, an associate professor of national security and political science at the University of New Haven, told Bloomberg that the Iranian space program’s advancements are motivated by the blows the country’s proxies were recently dealt in Lebanon and Syria.
“Iran has a need now, especially after the losses of its proxy power to Israel, to reestablish some kind of pathway to do power projection,” he said. “They see space technology and aeronautical technology as a place to do it.”
Iran has not explicitly said whether the program is intended for military purposes, claiming that its goal is to achieve the same technological capabilities as Western countries.
However, Iran has called for the destruction of Israel for decades and launched barrages of long-range missiles at its adversary twice in the past year.
The Islamic Republic recently began negotiations with the US on its nuclear program, aiming to reach a deal that will ease sanctions. It is unclear whether the Omani-mediated talks are making headway.
Iran claims that its nuclear program is intended only for civilian purposes, but it nevertheless has enriched uranium to levels that are only necessary for developing an atomic bomb.
The Times of Israel Community.