US calls Russia, Iran’s bolstering of ties 'a profound threat' after satellite launch

WASHINGTON

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."

"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.

The launch 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 in Kazakhstan, according to Russia's space agency.

Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov hailed the launch as a "landmark event in the Russia-Iran bilateral cooperation that paves the way for implementing new" joint projects.

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.