Chinese spy satellite used to direct Iranian attacks

Tehran reportedly used a Chinese spy satellite it secretly acquired to locate U.S. military facilities in the Middle East.

By World Israel News Staff

Iran secretly acquired a Chinese-built surveillance satellite and used it to monitor American military bases across the Middle East during the recent war, according to a report published by the Financial Times on Wednesday.

According to the FT, the satellite significantly enhanced Iran’s ability to target American bases in the region.

The satellite, known as TEE-01B, was built and launched by Chinese company Earth Eye and was obtained by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force in late 2024 after launch from China, according to the report, which cited leaked Iranian military documents.

The report said Iranian commanders used the system to monitor major American military sites using time-stamped coordinate lists, satellite imagery and orbital analysis.

As part of the arrangement, the IRGC also received access to commercial ground stations run by Emposat, a Beijing-based satellite control and data services provider with a network spanning Asia, Latin America and other regions, according to the report.

Among the locations tracked was Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, which was reportedly imaged on March 13, 14 and 15.

On March 14, President Donald Trump said that US aircraft at the base had been hit.

The FT also reported surveillance of Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, areas near the US Fifth Fleet base in Bahrain, and Erbil Airport in Iraq around the time Iran claimed attacks on facilities in those areas.

The report said the satellite also monitored other regional sites, including Camp Buehring and Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait, Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti, and Duqm International Airport in Oman, as well as civilian infrastructure in the UAE and Bahrain.

TEE-01B can capture imagery at roughly half-meter resolution, a level that would allow analysts to identify aircraft, vehicles and changes to infrastructure.

“This satellite is clearly being used for military purposes, as it is being run by the IRGC’s Aerospace Force and not Iran’s civilian space program,” Nicole Grajewski, an Iran expert at Sciences Po University, told the FT. “Iran really needs this foreign-provided capability during this war, as it allows the IRGC to identify targets ahead of time and check the success of its strikes.”

The White House did not comment directly on the reported link between Emposat and the IRGC, according to the FT, but a spokesperson pointed to Trump’s recent warning that China would face “big problems” if it supplied Iran with air defense systems.

In response to the report, the Chinese Embassy in Washington said: “We firmly oppose relevant parties spreading speculative and insinuative disinformation against China.”