The satellite was launched from a military space launch site in Russia's far eastern Amur region aboard a Topol solid-fuel rocket booster, the ITAR-TASS news agency said, quoting a spokesman for the facility, Alexei Kuznetsov.

In a brief item posted on its website, the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot quoted an unnamed defence official as saying the satellite would be used to spy on Iran's nuclear activities.

ITAR-TASS said the satellite is fitted with a powerful camera "which will permit Israeli intelligence to observe important Iranian targets in the most minute detail."

The D33 Eros B1 satellite was successfully placed into orbit about 20 minutes after its launch, the agency said.

The satellite was launched by ImageSat, a company that is part-owned by state-run Israel Aircraft Industries.

ImageSat said the 280 kilogramme (616 pound) satellite is able to spot objects of no more than 70 centimeters (28 inches) long.

"As soon as this satellite goes into orbit, it will place us in the major leagues of countries with photography satellites," ImageSat director general Shimon Eckhaus told Yediot Aharonot.

The Eros B is an upgraded versions of the Eros A satellite which is already in operation.

Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz hailed the successful satellite launch as "a great achievement of the defence establishment, the defence industries and Israel."

"The satellite activity will increase Israel's ability to collect high-quality intelligence at great distances from Israel's borders," he said in a statement.

"Israel has shown that it relies first and foremost on itself for protecting its citizens," he said.

Israeli Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said this week that Iran represented an existential threat to the survival of the Jewish state.

Although Tehran insists its programme is only designed to meet energy needs, Israel is convinced that the real intention is to develop the bomb.

Israel itself is believed to be the only state in the Middle East to possess a nuclear arsenal, something that it refuses to confirm or deny.

burs/rb/np

All rights reserved. � 2005 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.