JERUSALEM, April 25 (Xinhua) -- Israel's Eros B satellite, which the Israeli military says will be used to spy on Iran, was launched at the Russian cosmodrome Svobodny on Tuesday, according to Ha'aretz newspaper.

    The Eros B satellite is designed to spot images on the ground as small as 70 centimeters to allow Israel to gather information on Iran's nuclear program and its long-range missiles, which are capable of striking Israel.

    Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday that Israel would not "turn a blind eye" to the Iranian threat.

    The Jerusalem Post quoted Livni as saying that Israel was following Iran's nuclear technology developments.

    Israel has regarded Iran as the primary threat to its survival, disputing Tehran's claims that its nuclear program is peaceful.

    Iran's top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani threatened earlier in the day to withdraw from all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog if the UN Security Council imposes sanctions on Iran.

    The Security Council has given Iran 30 days until April 28 to freeze uranium enrichment activities, but Tehran rejected the demand.

    Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced a breakthrough in nuclear technology on April 11, saying that Iran successfully enriched uranium to 3.5 percent, a low-grade fuel for nuclear power plants, and vowed to proceed to industrial-scale enrichment.

    The United States and Israel have urged the UN Security Council to take actions against Iran to stop it from acquiring know-how and capability for making nuclear weapons.

    Iran has vowed never to abandon its legal right to peaceful nuclear technology, saying there is no evidence to prove its nuclear program deviates from peaceful purposes.

    Israeli President Moshe Katsav has described Iranian President Ahmadinejad's regime as "the most hostile" since the 1979 Islamic Revolution after the hardline president called for Israel "to be wiped off the map." Enditem