Image description
This handout picture taken and released by the Russian space agency Roscosmos on Friday, shows a Soyuz-2.1b rocket booster with a number of satellites blasting off from the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Uglegorsk, about 200 kilometres from the city of Blagoveshchensk, in the far eastern region of Amur. Iran launched on the day a telecommunications satellite from Russia, Iranian state media reported, in the latest such development for an aerospace programme that has long faced Western criticism. | AFP photo

A Russian rocket put an Iranian communications satellite into space on Friday, Iranian state media reported, the latest achievement for an aerospace programme that has long concerned Western governments.

鈥楾he Nahid-2 communications satellite was launched from Russia鈥檚 Vostochny Cosmodrome using a Soyuz rocket,鈥� state television said.


Weighing 110 kilograms, the satellite was designed and manufactured by Iranian engineers, the broadcaster added.

Western governments have long expressed concern that technological advances made in Iran鈥檚 space programme can also be used to upgrade its ballistic missile arsenal.

The launch was announced shortly before nuclear talks between Iran and Britain, France and Germany opened in Istanbul.

In December, Iran聽announced it had put its heaviest payload to date into space, using a domestically manufactured satellite carrier.

In September, Iran said it had put the Chamran-1 research satellite into orbit using the Ghaem-100 carrier, which is produced by the Revolutionary Guards鈥� aerospace division.