Revolutionary Guards paid 30 million euros
Attack on US bases: Iran probably used Chinese satellites
April 15, 2026 – 2:56 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Iran is said to have used a Chinese spy satellite to attack US bases. There’s probably a lucrative scam behind it.
After the US and Israel attacked Iran with an extensive air campaign at the end of February, the regime in Tehran immediately responded with attacks on US bases in the Middle East. An investigation by the Financial Times now shows that Iran probably used a Chinese spy satellite for its attacks.
The Revolutionary Guards are said to have secretly purchased the TEE-01B satellite from the Chinese in 2024. Beijing had previously launched the satellite into space.
The “Financial Times” has now compared coordinate lists, satellite images and orbit analyzes and has come to the conclusion that Iran began using the satellite during the war for espionage and to coordinate attacks on US bases in the region.
There is a sophisticated Chinese sales model behind this. The company Earth Eye Co. says it offers “In-Orbit Delivery”. This means that the satellite is launched into space in China, brought into position and then sold to foreign customers who do not have the resources for construction, launch and operation themselves.
Specifically, the analysis shows how the satellite captured images of the “Prince Sultan” air base in Saudi Arabia on March 13, 14 and 15. At the same time, the base was attacked by Iran, and US aircraft stationed there were said to have been damaged.
The satellite is also said to have monitored bases in Jordan, Bahrain and Iraq. All of these locations soon became targets of Iranian attacks.
In an interview with the Financial Times, an Iran expert from the Uni Sciences Po in Paris was convinced of the analysis: “This satellite is clearly being used for military purposes because it is operated by the Revolutionary Guards Aerospace Force and not by Iran’s civilian space program.” The Chinese satellite is intended to provide images of comparable quality to state-of-the-art Western systems. As documents show, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are said to have paid around 30 million euros to purchase the satellite.
Ahead of a possible meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese head of state Xi Jinping, Chinese support for the regime in Tehran is further exacerbating the already tense situation. In addition to the satellite, China is said to have also provided Iran with military weapons in the past. According to former CIA China analyst Dennis Wilder, these included Silkworm anti-ship missiles that were used in the war to block the Strait of Hormuz.
