As tension mounts between Iran and Israel, both countries are planning to launch new space satellites to peer into each other’s military domains as they prepare for possible conflict.Israel, which has the most advanced defense industry in the region, is technologically years ahead of the Islamic Republic, but the Iranians are racing to narrow the gap.

And putting satellites into space is the best way of developing the rockets that will become intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

Israel already has an arsenal of Jericho missiles buried in silos in the Judean Hills. Iran is working on matching that.It will take a few years, but every step that takes Tehran closer to that objective, such as the satellite launches it plans, increases Israel’s alarm.

In early 2008 Israeli also launched the TecSar spy satellite from India, extending its surveillance over Iran. Satellites launched from Israel have to travel westward, against the Earth’s rotation, to eliminate the possibility of debris falling on Arab states.

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