This undated picture offered by the Iranian House Company exhibits a Chamran-1 satellite tv for pc. Iran launched the satellite tv for pc into area on Saturday with a rocket constructed by the nation’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported.
Iranian House Company/AP
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Iranian House Company/AP
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran launched a satellite tv for pc into area Saturday with a rocket constructed by the nation’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, the newest for a program the West fears helps Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.
Iran described the launch as successful, which might be the second such launch to place a satellite tv for pc into orbit with the rocket. There was no speedy unbiased affirmation of the launch’s success.
Footage later launched by Iranian media confirmed the rocket blast off from a cell launcher. An Related Press evaluation of the video and different imagery later launched steered the launch occurred on the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of town of Shahroud, some 215 miles east of the capital, Tehran.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions gripping the broader Center East over the continuing Israel-Hamas conflict within the Gaza Strip, throughout which Tehran launched an unprecedented direct missile-and-drone assault on Israel. In the meantime, Iran continues to complement uranium to almost weapons-grade ranges, elevating considerations amongst nonproliferation consultants about Tehran’s program.
Iran recognized the satellite-carrying rocket because the Qaem-100, which the Guard utilized in January for an additional profitable launch. Qaem means “upright” in Iran’s Farsi language.
The solid-fuel, three-stage rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite tv for pc, weighing 60 kilograms (132 kilos), right into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported. The rocket bore a Quranic verse: “That which is left by Allah is best for you, in case you are believers.”
A state-owned subsidiary of Iran’s Protection Ministry and consultants on the Aerospace Analysis Institute constructed the satellite tv for pc with others to “take a look at {hardware} and software program methods for orbital maneuver expertise validation,” state media mentioned, with out elaborating.
Gen. Hossein Salami, the pinnacle of the Guard, praised the launch in a press release and mentioned scientists efficiently overcame “the ambiance of in depth and oppressive worldwide sanctions.”
The U.S. State Division and the American army didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark over the Iranian launch.
America had beforehand mentioned Iran’s satellite tv for pc launches defy a U.N. Safety Council decision and referred to as on Tehran to undertake no exercise involving ballistic missiles able to delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions associated to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired final October.
Below Iran’s comparatively reasonable former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its area program for concern of elevating tensions with the West. Exhausting-line President Ebrahim Raisi, a protege of Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who got here to energy in 2021, has pushed this system ahead. Raisi died in a helicopter crash in Could.
It is unclear what Iran’s new president, the reformist Masoud Pezeshkian, needs for this system as he was silent on the difficulty whereas campaigning.
The U.S. intelligence group’s worldwide risk evaluation this 12 months mentioned Iran’s improvement of satellite tv for pc launch autos “would shorten the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile as a result of it makes use of related expertise.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be utilized to ship nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium near weapons-grade ranges after the collapse of its nuclear take care of world powers. Tehran has sufficient enriched uranium for “a number of” nuclear weapons, if it chooses to supply them, the pinnacle of the Worldwide Atomic Power Company repeatedly has warned.
Iran has at all times denied looking for nuclear weapons and says its area program, like its nuclear actions, is for purely civilian functions. Nonetheless, U.S. intelligence companies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized army nuclear program up till 2003.
The launch additionally got here forward of the second anniversary of the demise of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, which sparked nationwide protests towards Iran’s necessary headband, or hijab, legislation and the nation’s Shiite theocracy.
