Israel last night successfully launched a highly accurate imaging satellite that will enhance its ability to spy on Iran, an official said.
Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said this week that the nuclear programme being pursued by arch-foe Iran was the most serious threat faced by Jews since the Nazi Holocaust.
"The launching of the satellite was successful," an official with the manufacturer ImageSat International said.
Shimon Eckhaus, the firm's chief executive, said: "The capabilities of the satellite speak for themselves. I do not need to say anything about what the purpose of its use might be."
A report in Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronothsaid the Eros B satellite has a camera that can decipher objects on the ground as small as 70 centimetres (about two feet) across.
Mr Eckhaus later confirmed the accuracy of the published details.
The report said Eros B will join an earlier version of the satellite, launched in December 2000. Both are set to augment the work of Israel's declared spy satellite, Ofek 5, which regularly passes over Arab territory.
The Yediothreport said that Israel was planning to send up another spy satellite with the ability to view objects in all weather conditions and in darkness. The Eros satellites are effective only in daylight and in clear visibility.
The launch comes at a time of heightened tension over Iran's nuclear programme.
The United States accuses Iran of seeking to build nuclear bombs and has refused to rule out military options if diplomacy fails to curb the Islamic Republic's atomic ambitions. Iran says its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity.
Like its predecessor in 2000, Eros B was launched from the Svobodny Cosmodrome in the Russian far east using a Russian Start-1 rocket.
It will orbit the Earth at a height of about 500 km (310 miles) and will circle the globe roughly every 95 minutes, ImageSat said.