Iran says it launched imaging satellite
West sees move as military threat
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Iran claimed on Wednesday that it successfully launched an imaging satellite into space, a move that could further ratchet up tensions with Western nations that fear its space technology could be used to develop nuclear weapons.
Communication Minister Isa Zarepour said Iran’s Noor-3 satellite had been put in an orbit 280 miles above the Earth’s surface, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It was not clear when the launch took place.
There was no immediate acknowledgment from Western officials of the launch or of the satellite being put into orbit. The US military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Iran has had a series of failed launches in recent years. Its most recent launch was carried out by its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which has had more success. General Hossein Salami, the Guard’s top commander, told state TV that the launch had been a “victory,” and that the satellite will collect data and images.
Authorities released footage of a rocket taking off from a mobile launcher without saying where the launch occurred. Details in the video corresponded with a Guard base near Shahroud, some 200 miles northeast of the capital, Tehran. The base is in Semnan province, which hosts the Imam Khomeini Spaceport from which Iran’s civilian space program operates.
The Guard operates its own space program parallel to Iran’s regular armed forces. It launched its first satellite into space in April 2020. At the time, the head of the US Space Command dismissed it as a “tumbling webcam in space” that would not provide vital intelligence. Western sanctions bar Iran from importing advanced spying technology.
The United States has alleged that Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and has called on Tehran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The US intelligence community’s 2022 threat assessment asserted that the development of satellites “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons, saying that its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes.
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 of its satellite-carrying rockets.