Russia launched a Soyuz rocket early on Tuesday carrying two satellites designed to monitor the space weather around Earth and 53 small satellites, including two Iranian ones, Russia's Roscosmos space agency said.

A Russian rocket has blasted off successfully to carry a pair of Iranian satellites into orbit, a launch that reflected growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran.

Iran announced on Tuesday that it has successfully launched its first privately developed satellites into orbit from Russian launch sites, marking two of the successful satellite launches planned in Iran’s agenda for the year.