CLASSIFIED
KHAYYAM
Iranian Reconnaissance Satellite (Russian-Built, Assessed Wartime Use) · VNIIEM (Russia, for Iran)
Right now
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Khayyam belongs to Iran. Russia built it, launched it, and — according to Western intelligence officials cited by the Washington Post — used it for months to watch military targets in Ukraine before ever handing the controls to Tehran. Iran calls the claim 'childish' and says the satellite exists to monitor crops and water resources. Both things can be checked against the same set of facts: a 1.2-meter-resolution imaging satellite, negotiated in secret over years between Moscow and Iran's Revolutionary Guard, launched from a Russian cosmodrome in August 2022 — just as the Ukraine war entered its sixth month.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 307–309 mi (494–498 km)
- Inclination
- 97.3°
- One orbit
- 94.4 minutes15.3 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 53370
- Int’l designator
- 2022-096A
- Launched
- 2022
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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