Tehran
Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced they had successfully launched the country’s first military satellite on Wednesday, at a time of fresh tensions with US forces in the Gulf.
The United States alleges Iran’s satellite programme is a cover for its development of missiles, while the Islamic republic has previously insisted its aerospace activities comply with its international obligations.
Tensions between the arch foes escalated last week with the US Department of Defense accusing Iranian vessels of harassing its ships in the Gulf.
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hailed the surprise satellite launch as a “great success”.
“The first satellite of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been successfully launched into orbit by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” said the Guards’ Sepah news website.
It said the satellite — dubbed the Nour — had been launched from the Qassed two-stage launcher from the Markazi desert, a vast expanse in Iran’s central plateau.
The satellite “orbited the earth at 425 kilometres,” said the website.
“This action will be a great success and a new development in the field of space for Iran,” it added.
The operation comes more than two months after Iran launched but failed to put into orbit another satellite that it said had no military purpose.
The attempted launch on February 9 of the Zafar — “victory” in Persian — came days before the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.
Arch enemies Iran and the United States have appeared to be on the brink of an all-out confrontation twice in the past year.—AFP
