The Times of Israel:

A new Iranian satellite has surveillance capabilities that present a serious problem for Israel due to its ability to monitor sensitive sites in the country, snapping high-resolution images of objects on the ground, experts have warned.

Western experts have no doubts that the satellite is intended for spying. “As far as Iran is concerned, this is a real breakthrough — for the first time an Iranian owns and operates a satellite with a high imaging resolution, much better than what they had until now,” Tal Inbar, a senior research fellow at the non-partisan US-based Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, told The New York Times.

Inbar said the satellite’s imaging capabilities will present a significant challenge to Israel, which has itself used such technology for a long time.

“From now on, Iran will be able to collect much more accurate intelligence information for military operations of their forces as well as for the organizations they support,” Inbar said and noted that includes real-time operations by Iran or any of the militia groups it backs.

“This is a significant narrowing of the technological gap between Iran, and Israel and the United States,” Inbar said.

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