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 on Tuesday blasted off successfully to carry a pair of Iranian satellites into orbit, a launch that reflected growing cooperation between Moscow and Tehran. The Soyuz rocket lifted off as scheduled from Vostochny launchpad in far eastern Russia and put its payload into a designated orbit nine minutes after the launch.