An FT investigation based on leaked documents shows Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) secretly bought a Chinese-built spy satellite called TEE-01B for ~$36.6mn in late 2024 and used it in March 2026 to photograph US bases before and after attacking them. The 0.5-metre-resolution satellite — ten times sharper than Iran's previous best — monitored at least nine US military sites across Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Djibouti and Oman.
Iran used a Chinese spy satellite to target US bases
— Summary
The story in one line: An FT investigation based on leaked documents shows Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) secretly bought a Chinese-built spy satellite called TEE-01B in late 2024 and used it in March 2026 to photograph US bases before and after attacking them.
Key numbers
- Contract value:
**Rmb 250 mn ($36.6 mn)**, signed with Chinese firm Earth Eye Co (satellite) and Emposat (ground control). - Satellite image resolution: 0.5 metres — sharp enough to identify individual aircraft. That’s 10× better than Iran’s previous best military satellite (Noor-3, ~5 m) and 20–30× better than the older Noor-2 (12–15 m).
- Targets photographed around the time of Iranian strikes: Prince Sultan Air Base (Saudi Arabia, hit 14 March — 5 US refuelling planes damaged); Muwaffaq Salti Air Base (Jordan); US 5th Fleet base (Bahrain); Erbil airport (Iraq); Camp Buehring & Ali Al Salem (Kuwait); Camp Lemonnier (Djibouti); Duqm airport (Oman).
- Gulf civilian sites also monitored: Khor Fakkan port, Qidfa desalination plant (UAE), Alba aluminium smelter (Bahrain).
Why it matters (jargon, explained)
- “In-orbit delivery” is a little-known export model: China launches a satellite, then hands control of it to a foreign buyer once it’s already in space. Strategically, this means Iran’s capability can’t be knocked out by hitting a ground station inside Iran — the control network sits in China.
- Emposat has close ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army Aerospace Force; Earth Eye’s executives come from universities linked to the Chinese military.
- China’s foreign ministry called the report “untrue”. The US has warned Beijing against providing Iran with air defence systems.
Takeaway
This is the clearest evidence yet that China is quietly providing military-grade intelligence capabilities to Iran, through nominally “commercial” space companies — blurring the civil/military line and raising the geopolitical stakes of the Iran war.
Source: Financial Times Investigations, 15 April 2026 — Miles Johnson, Peter Andringa, Alison Killing, Charles Clover, Demetri Sevastopulo.
— Delfineo's Take
The key innovation isn't the satellite itself — it's the 'in-orbit delivery' export model. China launches the satellite, then hands control to the foreign buyer once it's already in space, with ground stations kept in China. This means Iran's surveillance capability cannot be knocked out by Israeli strikes on Iranian ground infrastructure. For investors, the read-across is that the civil/military line in Chinese commercial space is effectively fictional, and US export controls will tighten further across the entire Chinese satellite value chain.