Germans urged to leave Iran
BERLIN, Nov 5, (Agencies): The German Ministry of Foreign Affairs has called on its citizens living in Iran to leave the country.
“German nationals are asked to leave Iran. For German nationals there is a concrete risk of being arbitrarily arrested, interrogated and sentenced to long prison terms,” the ministry said in a press statement. It even urged dual nationals who hold Iranian and German nationalities to leave Iran where there have been a large number of arbitrary arrests of foreigners. The German move comes against the backdrop of ongoing crackdowns on protests in Iran.
Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard on Saturday launched a new satellitecarrying rocket, state TV reported, seeking to demonstrate the force’s space prowess even as anti-government protests rage across the country.
Iranian state TV said the Guard successfully launched the solid-fueled rocket - what it called a Ghaem-100 satellite carrier - and aired dramatic footage of the rocket blasting off from a desert launch pad into a cloudy sky. The report did not reveal the location, which resembled Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s rural Semnan province.
The state-run IRNA news agency reported that the carrier would be able to put a satellite weighing 80 kg (176 pounds) into orbit some 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Earth.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Guard’s aerospace division, said he hoped the Guard would soon use the rocket to put a new satellite, named Nahid, into orbit.
Iran says its satellite program, like its nuclear activities, is aimed at scientific research and other civilian applications. The United States and other Western countries have long been suspicious of the program because the same technology can be used to develop long-range missiles. Previous launches have drawn rebukes from the U.S.
Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. The program has seen recent troubles, however. There have been five failed launches in a row for the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket.
A fire at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. A launchpad rocket explosion later that year drew the attention of former President Donald Trump.
The Guard’s announcement came in the seventh week of protests sparked by the death in custody of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained after allegedly violating the country’s strict dress code for women.
European Union High Representative Josep Borrell said Friday that the talks on Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, are in a stalemate and called on Iran to stop supplying Russia with drones.
“We insist on Iran to stop providing arms to Russia. Iran denies it, but the Ukrainians have been providing evidence of the use of drones,” he told reporters ahead of the G7 foreign ministerial meeting in the German city of Muenster.
“On the JCPOA, the negotiations are at a stalemate. There is nothing new,” he said.