Earlier this month at an event for Iran’s Space Technology Day, Iranian Space Agency President Hassan Salarieh made a set of announcements. According to the IRGC-associated Tasnim news, alongside the inauguration of a new satellite ground station in Salmas, Salarieh announced construction of the new spaceport near Chabahar had been completed. Previous statements from Salarieh indicated the Iranians aimed to conduct their first launch from Chabahar in February 2026 using a Simorgh space launch vehicle.
For a longer rundown of the troubled history of the Chabahar spaceport project and the initial discovery of the construction site, I would highly recommend a post my colleagues Jim Lamson and Dave Schmerler wrote a few years ago. The project has three phases. First, the construction of infrastructure to support solid-propellant SLVs, followed by facilities for launching liquid-propellant SLVs and super-heavy liquid-propellant SLVs in the second and third phases.
The work detected at Chabahar thus far is part of the first phase of development, based on Jim and Dave’s geolocation of construction photos shown by Salarieh in 2024. Needless to say, the construction at the site does not quite reflect the ambitious schematics and models the Iranian Space Agency has presented over the years. However, this is still early days in the actual project, and perhaps the final stages will reflect something more like the aspirational design of the spaceport.
After Salarieh’s announcement that Chabahar had been completed, we pulled some images from our friends at Planet Labs, and it turns out the facility is nowhere near close to being finished.
The possible assembly building looks to be in rough shape. Construction materials litter the ground nearby and the surrounding area isn’t paved.
The launch site itself is incomplete as well. While the Iranians have poured the concrete pad, built the flame buckets, dug out the flame trench, and erected the lightning arrestors, this site is clearly still a work in progress. No gantry tower has been built to support any space launch vehicle, nor have the Iranians installed rails to move any such tower away from the SLV. Construction equipment and materials are still present. The road from the assembly building to the launch site is unpaved. Pools of standing water have accumulated along the road and around the launch pad. None of the cabling or other supporting infrastructure one would expect to help support launches has been installed either.
The evidence suggests Chabahar is not prepared to launch anything this February, and likely will not be ready until Summer 2026 at the earliest. Considering the sluggish pace of construction at the site since Sayyed Ahmad Hosseini-Munes announced work had started in early 2023, it would not be surprising if the spaceport remained incomplete for some time yet. The turmoil inside Iran caused by the 12-Day War and the ensuing protest movement likely have not made efforts to complete Phase 1 of the project any easier either. While Iran’s space program does continue to make progress, including the apparently successful launch of several satellites on a Russian Soyuz, Salarieh’s claims regarding Chabahar’s state of readiness should not be taken at face value.
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