April 15 (Reuters) – Iran secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite, giving the Islamic Republic a new capability to target U.S. military bases across the Middle East during the recent war, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by Chinese company Earth Eye Co, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force in late 2024 after it was launched into space from China, the report said citing leaked Iranian military documents.
The Iranian military commanders directed the satellite to monitor major U.S. military sites, the newspaper said, citing time-stamped coordinate lists, satellite imagery and orbital analysis. The images were taken in March before and after drone and missile strikes on those locations, FT said.
Reuters could not verify the report.
The White House, CIA, Pentagon, China’s foreign affairs ministry and defence ministry, Earth Eye Co and Emposat did not immediately respond to requests by Reuters for comment.
As part of the deal, the IRGC received access to commercial ground stations operated by Emposat, a Beijing-based provider of satellite control and data services provider with a network extending across Asia, Latin America and other regions, according to the report.
The satellite captured images of Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia on March 13, 14 and 15, FT said.
On March 14, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed US planes at the base had been hit.
According to the report, the satellite also monitored Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and locations close to the US Fifth Fleet naval base in Manama, Bahrain, and Erbil airport, Iraq, around the time of IRGC-claimed attacks on facilities in those areas.
(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonali Paul and Neil Fullick)
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