Iran launched a satellite into orbit last Saturday with a rocket manufactured by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media said, the latest for a program the West suspects helps Tehran improve its ballistic missile development.
Iran claimed the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to deliver a satellite into orbit using the rocket. There was no instant outside confirmation of the launch’s success, nor did Iranian authorities quickly offer film or other data.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the wider Middle East over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran conducted an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone strike on Israel. Nonproliferation specialists are concerned about Tehran’s agenda as uranium enrichment in Iran continues to approach levels close to those needed for weapons.
“Iran announces it successfully launched a satellite into orbit”
Iran recognised the rocket carrying the satellite as the Qaem-100, which the Guard successfully launched again in January. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language. The 60 kilogramme (132 pound) Chamran-1 satellite was launched by a solid-fuel rocket into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, according to official media.
Requests for comment about the Iranian launch were not immediately answered by the US military or State Department.The US had earlier declared that Iran’s satellite launches violated a resolution passed by the UN Security Council and urged Tehran to refrain from using ballistic missiles that are capable of carrying nuclear weapons. The restrictions imposed by the UN on Iran’s ballistic missile program ended in October of last year.
The Islamic Republic of Iran halted its space program under the comparatively moderate previous president Hassan Rouhani out of concern over escalating hostilities with the West. Protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi took office in 2021 and has advanced the initiative. In May, Raisi perished in a helicopter accident.
Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s new reformist president, said nothing during the campaign about the initiative, so it’s unclear what he wants out of it.
Iran’s development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to create an intercontinental ballistic missile since they employ identical technology, according to the U.S. intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment this year.
Nuclear weapons can be delivered via intercontinental ballistic missiles. Iran’s nuclear agreement with the world powers collapsed, and the country is already generating uranium at levels almost ready for use in weapons. The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned time and again that Tehran possesses enough enriched uranium for “several” nuclear bombs, should it decide to make them.
Iran maintains that both its space program and its nuclear operations are only for civilian objectives, and it has always denied developing nuclear weapons. Nonetheless, according to the IAEA and U.S. intelligence agencies, Iran maintained a formal military nuclear program until 2003.
The debut coincided with the second anniversary of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini’s passing, which precipitated widespread demonstrations against Iran’s Shiite theocracy and the country’s legislation requiring headscarves, or hijabs.
Source: AP
