عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
World

Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
TT
TT

Russia Sends 3 Iranian Satellites into Orbit, Report Says

In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)
In this photo released by Roscosmos space corporation on Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, the Soyuz-2.1b rocket blasts off at the Vostochny cosmodrome outside the city of Tsiolkovsky, about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Blagoveshchensk in the far eastern Amur region, Russia. A Russian Soyuz rocket successfully put an Iranian satellite into orbit along with 18 Russian satellites on Thursday. (Roscosmos space corporation via AP)

Russia on Sunday sent three Iranian communications satellites into orbit, the second such launch since July, Iranian state television reported.

The report said that a Russian rocket sent the satellites to circle the Earth on a 500-kilometer (310-mile) orbit from the Vostochny launchpad in eastern Russia. The three satellites are dubbed Paya, Kowsar and Zafar-2.

The report said that Paya, weighing 150 kilograms (330 pounds), is the heaviest satellite that Iran has ever deployed into orbit. Kowsar weighs 35 kilograms (77 pounds), but the report didn't specify how heavy Zafar-2 is.

The satellites feature up to 3-meter resolution images, applicable in the management of water resources, agriculture and the environment. Their life span is up to five years.

Russia occasionally sends Iran's satellites into orbit, highlighting the strong ties between the two countries. In July, a Russian rocket sent Iranian communications satellite Nahid-2 into orbit.

Russia, which signed a “strategic partnership” treaty with Iran in January, strongly condemned the Israeli and US strikes on Iran that came during a 12-day air war in June and killed nearly 1,100 Iranians, including military commanders and nuclear scientists. Retaliatory missile barrages by Iran killed 28 people in Israel.

As a long-standing project, Iran from time-to-time launches satellite carriers to send its satellites into space.

The United States has said that Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired in 2023.

Most Viewed

 
 
World

US Vice President Vance Heads to Armenia, Azerbaijan to Push Peace, Trade

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
TT
TT

US Vice President Vance Heads to Armenia, Azerbaijan to Push Peace, Trade

US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)
US Vice President JD Vance speaks during the Critical Minerals Ministerial at the State Department in Washington, DC, US, February 4, 2026. (Reuters)

US Vice President JD Vance will visit Armenia and Azerbaijan this week to push a Washington-brokered peace agreement that could transform energy and trade routes in the strategic South Caucasus region.

His two-day trip to Armenia, which begins later on Monday, comes just six months after the Armenian and Azerbaijani leaders signed an agreement at the White House seen as the first step towards peace after nearly 40 years of war.

Vance, the first US vice president to visit Armenia, is seeking to advance the Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity (TRIPP), a proposed 43-kilometre (27-mile) corridor that would run across southern Armenia and give Azerbaijan a direct route to its exclave ‌of Nakhchivan ‌and in turn to Türkiye, Baku's close ally.

"Vance's visit should ‌serve ⁠to reaffirm the ‌US's commitment to seeing the Trump Route through," said Joshua Kucera, a senior South Caucasus analyst at Crisis Group.

"In a region like the Caucasus, even a small amount of attention from the US can make a significant impact."

The Armenian government said on Monday that Vance would hold talks with Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and that both men would then make statements, without elaborating.

Vance will then visit Azerbaijan on Wednesday and Thursday, the White House has said.

Under the agreement signed last year, ⁠a private US firm, the TRIPP Development Company, has been granted exclusive rights to develop the proposed corridor, with Yerevan ‌retaining full sovereignty over its borders, customs, taxation and security.

The ‍route would better connect Asia to Europe ‍while - crucially for Washington - bypassing Russia and Iran at a time when Western countries are ‍keen on diversifying energy and trade routes away from Russia due to its war in Ukraine.

Russia has traditionally viewed the South Caucasus as part of its sphere of influence but has seen its clout there diminish as it is distracted by the war in Ukraine.

Securing US access to supplies of critical minerals is also likely to be a key focus of Vance's visit.

TRIPP could prove a key transit corridor for the vast mineral wealth of ⁠Central Asia - including uranium, copper, gold and rare earths - to Western markets.

CLOSED BORDERS, BITTER RIVALS

In Soviet times the South Caucasus was criss-crossed by railways and oil pipelines until a series of wars beginning in the 1980s disrupted energy routes and shuttered the border between Armenia and Türkiye, Azerbaijan's key regional ally.

Armenia and Azerbaijan were locked in bitter conflict for nearly four decades, primarily over the mountainous region of Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized part of Azerbaijan that broke away from Baku's control as the Soviet Union fell apart in 1991.

Azerbaijan and Armenia fought two wars over Karabakh before Baku finally took it back in 2023. Karabakh's entire ethnic Armenian population of around 100,000 people fled to Armenia. The two neighbors have made progress in recent months on normalizing relations, including restarting ‌some energy shipments.

But major hurdles remain to full and lasting peace, including a demand by Azerbaijan that Armenia change its constitution to remove what Baku says contains implicit claims on Azerbaijani territory.

World

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader to Visit Oman on Tuesday

FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
TT
TT

Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader to Visit Oman on Tuesday

FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa
FILED - 06 February 2009, Bavaria, Munich: Ali Larijani, then chairman of the Iranian parliament, speaks at the 45th Munich Security Conference in Munich. Photo: Andreas Gebert/dpa

Ali Larijani, an adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, will visit Oman accompanied by a delegation on Tuesday, the ‌semi-official Tasnim news ‌agency reported ‌on ⁠Monday.

American and ‌Iranian diplomats held indirect talks in Oman last week, aimed at reviving diplomacy amid a US ⁠naval buildup near Iran and ‌Tehran's vows ‍of a ‍harsh response if ‍attacked.

"During this trip, (Larijani) will meet with high-ranking officials of the Sultanate of Oman and discuss the latest regional ⁠and international developments and bilateral cooperation at various levels," Tasnim said.

The date and venue of the next round of talks are yet to be announced.

World

Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
TT
TT

Russia’s Lavrov Sees No ‘Bright Future’ for Economic Ties with US

06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)
06 February 2026, Russia, Moscow: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gives a press conference following a meeting with Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Chairperson-in-Office Ignazio Cassis, head of Switzerland's Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, Federal Councilor of the Swiss Confederation, and OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioglu at the Russian Foreign Ministry's Reception House. (Sofya Sandurskaya/TASS via ZUMA Press/dpa)

Russia remains open for cooperation with the United States but is not hopeful about economic ties despite Washington's ongoing efforts to end the Ukraine war, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview published on Monday.

Speaking to Russia-based media outlet TV BRICS, ‌Lavrov cited what ‌he called the ‌United ⁠States' declared ‌aim of "economic dominance".

"We also don't see any bright future in the economic sphere," Lavrov said.

Russian officials, including envoy Kirill Dmitriev, have previously spoken of the prospects for a major restoration ⁠of economic relations with the United States as ‌part of any eventual Ukraine ‍peace settlement.

But although ‍President Donald Trump has also ‍spoken of reviving economic cooperation with Moscow and has hosted his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on US soil since returning to the White House, he has imposed further onerous sanctions on Russia's vital ⁠energy sector.

Lavrov also cited Trump's hostility to the BRICS bloc, which includes Russia, China, India, Brazil and other major developing economies.

"The Americans themselves create artificial obstacles along this path (towards BRICS integration)," he said.

"We are simply forced to seek additional, protected ways to develop our financial, economic, logistical and ‌other projects with the BRICS countries."