Iran secretly acquired a Chinese-built spy satellite in late 2024 that enabled it to target United States military bases across the Middle East during the current war, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday.
The report said the TEE-01B satellite, built and launched by Earth Eye Co, was obtained by the Aerospace Force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after being launched from China, citing leaked Iranian military documents.
Targeting of U.S. Military Sites
According to the report, Iranian commanders used the satellite to monitor major U.S. military facilities, supported by coordinate lists, satellite imagery and orbital analysis.
The images were reportedly taken in March, before and after drone and missile strikes on those locations.
Sites said to have been monitored include Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, areas near the U.S. Fifth Fleet base in Manama, Bahrain, and Erbil airport in Iraq.
The report said the satellite captured images of Prince Sultan Air Base on March 13, 14 and 15. On March 14, Donald Trump confirmed that U.S. aircraft at the base had been hit.
Ground Station Access
As part of the arrangement, the IRGC was also said to have gained access to commercial ground stations operated by Emposat, which provides satellite control and data services across Asia, Latin America and other regions.
China Rejects Allegations
China’s foreign ministry rejected the report, calling it untrue.
“Recently, some forces have been keen on fabricating rumours and maliciously associating them to China,” the ministry said in a statement.
“China firmly opposes this kind of practice driven by ulterior motives,” it added.
The Chinese embassy in Washington also dismissed the claims as “speculative and insinuative disinformation”.
No Independent Verification
Reuters said it could not independently verify the report.
The White House, CIA and the Pentagon did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Earth Eye Co and Emposat also did not respond to Reuters queries.
The report noted that the White House declined to comment on any links between Emposat and the IRGC, but referred to remarks by Trump warning that China would face “big problems” if it supplied Iran with air defence systems.
(with inputs from Reuters)
