Iran: Launched a rocket capable of carrying satellites into space

Iran announced today that it had “successfully” tested a rocket capable of carrying satellites into space, state television reported.

Western governments fear that the satellite launch systems incorporate technologies that can replace those used in nuclear-capable ballistic missiles, which Iran has consistently denied it wants to build.

The television spoke of the “successful sub-orbital launch of the satellite launcher named Ghaem-100”, without revealing further details about the operation.

“The flight test of this launch vehicle (…) has been successfully completed,” he clarified.

According to the same img, the Ghaem-100 missile was manufactured by the aerospace branch of the Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s ideological army.

It is Iran’s first three-stage solid-fuel satellite launcher, TV reported.

According to the same img, Ghaem-100 “is capable of placing satellites weighing 80 kilograms into an orbit 500 kilometers from the earth’s surface,” the TV added.

Iran had launched the Khayyam satellite (named after the Persian scholar Omar Khayyam) in August on a Soyuz-2.1B rocket from the Moscow-controlled Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Iran’s space agency had said the satellite was built by the Russians under Iranian supervision.

The United States said at the time that Khayyam was intended for “espionage” activities, calling Moscow’s growing cooperation with Tehran a serious “threat.”

Iran rejected these claims, saying the satellite was built “to meet the country’s needs” mainly in “urban crisis management” and “natural reimgs”.

Iran insists its space program is for political and defense purposes only and does not violate the 2015 deal on Iran’s nuclear program or any other international agreement.