Russia launches Iranian satellite amid Ukraine war concerns

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

52% :Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from the United States.
48% :Russian President Vladimir Putin met Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran last month -- one of his few trips abroad since the invasion began.
48% : Iran is currently negotiating with world powers, including Moscow, to salvage a 2015 deal aimed at reining in Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
43% : Iran insists its space programme is for civilian and defence purposes only, and does not breach the 2015 nuclear deal, or any other international agreement.
41% : Last week, US daily The Washington Post quoted anonymous Western intelligence officials as saying that Russia "plans to use the satellite for several months or longer" to assist its war efforts before allowing Iran to take control.
39% : During his meeting with Putin last month, Iran's Khamenei called for "long-term cooperation" with Russia, and Tehran has refused to join international condemnation of Moscow's invasion of its pro-Western neighbour.
35% : Iran, which has maintained ties with Moscow and refrained from criticism of the Ukraine invasion, has sought to deflect suspicions that Moscow could use Khayyam to spy on Ukraine.
34% :Western governments worry that satellite launch systems incorporate technologies interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, something Iran has always denied wanting to build.
15% : The United States -- which quit the landmark Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA under then-president Donald Trump in 2018 -- has accused Iran of effectively supporting Russia's war against Ukraine while adopting a "veil of neutrality".

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