Photo: NASA Johnson Space Center / Wikimedia Commons, public domain. The Strait of Hormuz photographed from the International Space Station on March 24, 2021. Archive illustration, not a photograph of interference or a current military operation. Resized and cropped.
WASHINGTON – Iran remains an “emerging” space power capable of disrupting some U.S. military capabilities despite American strikes on its space-related facilities, Axios reported Thursday, citing a Defense Intelligence Agency assessment.
The concern is less about Iran matching America’s satellite fleet than about its ability to interfere with signals and obtain intelligence from space. According to Axios’ account of the assessment, Iran took offensive actions against U.S. space capabilities during Operation Epic Fury and possesses several ground-based jamming systems that can degrade satellite-based GPS.
The report describes capabilities and actions during that operation. It does not establish that a new Iranian attack occurred Thursday.
Ground-based jamming challenges satellite services
Axios said the U.S. Transportation Department warned in September of significant interference to global navigation systems in the Strait of Hormuz. The warning illustrates the practical concern for a major shipping passage: services supplied from space can be disrupted by equipment operating on Earth.
U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper said in March that American forces had achieved “space superiority” after striking Iran’s space command, Axios reported. Some analysts question how that description fits Iran’s continuing ability to interfere with U.S. use of space.
Todd Harrison, an aerospace expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told Axios that an adversary’s ability to degrade U.S. space capabilities challenges the superiority claim. Kari Bingen, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also pointed to Iranian capabilities that can challenge U.S. operations, while stressing that Iran’s assets remain far below those of the United States, China and Russia.
A small fleet, with foreign support
Iran has about 12 operational satellites, according to American Enterprise Institute data cited by Axios. That figure is AEI’s count, not a satellite total independently verified here or attributed to the DIA assessment.
Access to foreign systems adds another concern. Axios reported that Iran had purchased a Chinese spy satellite that aided ground targeting, citing the Defense Department’s Irregular Warfare Center. It also reported that the State Department sanctioned three Chinese entities in May for providing satellite imagery used to enable Iranian military strikes.
Russia launched sensing satellites for Iran in 2022 and 2024, according to the DIA findings described by Axios. The foreign support raises questions about targeting intelligence even when Iran’s own satellite fleet remains small.
The assessment, as reported by Axios, says Iran is pursuing military and civilian space programs to support its economy, national prestige and military modernization, while working to make guidance and navigation systems more resistant to electronic attack.
The distinction matters: a much weaker space program can still create operational problems through jamming and access to imagery. It does not follow that Iran has surpassed the United States in space. This article relies on Axios’ account of the DIA assessment; JBizNews has not independently reviewed the underlying report.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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