Trump tweet, Tehran taunt on rocket blast

DUBAI, Aug 31, (AP): The unexplained explosion of a rocket at an Iranian space center grew more mysterious Saturday as US President Donald Trump tweeted what appeared to be an American surveillance photo of the site and Tehran showed off a satellite meant to be launched.

Trump’s tweet showing the aftermath of Thursday’s explosion at the Imam Khomeini Space Center drew a taunting tweet from Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi. However, Jahromi declined to say what went wrong while showing local journalists the Nahid-1 satellite meant to be launched.

“I have no idea about the Americans’ comment about Semnan space site and I think it is more appropriate that the respected minister of defense talk about this because it is within his realm of responsibility,” the minister said. “But what could be seen today is that the Nahid satellite is here and has not yet been handed over.”

Thursday’s explosion marked the third failure involving a launch at the center, which has raised suspicions of sabotage in Iran’s space program. The US has criticized the initiative as a way for Tehran to advance its ballistic missiles.

Trump directly acknowledged that in his tweet Friday.

“The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran,” Trump wrote, identifying the rocket used. “I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One.”

Commercially available satellite images by Planet Labs Inc and Maxar Technologies showed a black plume of smoke rising above a launch pad Thursday, with what appeared to be the charred remains of a rocket and its launch stand. In previous days, satellite images had shown officials there repainted the launch pad blue.

The photo released Friday by Trump appeared to be a onceclassified surveillance photo from American intelligence agencies. Analysts said the black rectangle in the photo’s upperleft-hand corner likely covered up the photo’s classification.

The image showed damaged vehicles around the launch pad, as well as damage done to the rocket’s launcher. It also clearly showed a large phrase written in Farsi on the pad: “National Product, National Power.”

Trump, later speaking to reporters, described Iran suffering “a big problem” at the space center.

“We had a photo and I released it, which I have the absolute right to do,” Trump said. US presidents can declassify information at their discretion.

(AP) This image taken from the Twitter account of US President Donald J. Trump, @realDonaldTrump, shows an undated photo of the aftermath of an explosion at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center in the country’s Semnan province. The explosion on Aug 29, 2019, left the smoldering remains of a rocket on a launch pad at the center, which was to conduct a UScriticized satellite launch. In his tweet on Aug 30, Trump wrote: ‘The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One.’

(AP) In this photo provided on Aug 31, 2019, by Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Ministry, The Nahid-1 domestically-built satellite is displayed at the space research center in Tehran, Iran. An Iranian official published an image Saturday of a satellite after an apparent rocket explosion at the space center meant to launch it, tweeting at US President Donald Trump after the American leader shared online what appeared to be a surveillance photo of the aftermath.