An Iranian satellite launched by Russia blasted off from Kazakhstan early this morning and went into orbit amid fears Moscow might use it to improve its surveillance of military targets in Ukraine.

A live feed from Russian space agency Roscosmos showed the launch of the Soyuz-2.1b rocket carrying the Khayyam satellite from the Russia-controlled Baikonur cosmodrome at the scheduled time of 6.52am (London).

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.

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