Tehran (Iran): Iranian state television said on Sunday that Tehran had launched a solid-fuel rocket into space, drawing a rebuke from Washington ahead of the expected resumption of stalled talks over Tehran’s broken nuclear deal with world powers.
It is not clear when or where the rocket was launched, but the announcement came after satellite images showed preparations at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s rural Seman province, where Iran repeatedly failed to put the satellite into orbit. Tried.
State-run media broadcast dramatic footage of the explosion against a backdrop of rising tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, which is proceeding under a lack of international oversight.
Iran previously acknowledged that it had planned several tests for the satellite-carrying Zuljana rocket, named for the horse of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It was not immediately clear whether Iran successfully launched the satellite carrier into its intended orbit.
white House said it was aware of Iran’s announcement and described such actions as “helpless and destabilizing”. It said it was committed to using sanctions and other measures to prevent further progress in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
after the news The European UnionThe US foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, traveled to Tehran to resume talks on Iran’s nuclear program, which has been at a standstill for months. Several hard-hitting points remain, including Tehran’s demand that Washington lift the terrorism embargo on its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Borrell said talks on the nuclear deal would resume in the coming days in a Persian Gulf country, with Iranian media reporting that Qatar would host the talks.
former president donald trump In 2018 the US withdrew from the nuclear deal and again imposed crushing sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by greatly speeding up its nuclear work and now enriches uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before.
In another extension that limits international surveillance in its nuclear program, Iran this month removed more than two dozen International Atomic Energy Agency cameras from its nuclear sites.
Past rocket launches have drawn rebuke from the United States, which says such satellite launches defy a United Nations Security Council resolution requiring Iran to abstain from any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. has been invoked.
Iran, which has long said it does not want nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hosseini as saying that the satellite carrier would gather information in low-Earth orbit and serve to boost Iran’s nascent space programme.
That program has seen recent troubles, even as Iran sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and launched a monkey into space in 2013. There have been five consecutive unsuccessful launches for the Simorgh program, a type of satellite-carrying rocket. Officials said at the time that three researchers had also died in a fire at the Imam Khomeini spaceport in February 2019.
The launch pad used in preparations for the launch of the Zuljana rocket has been scorched by an explosion in August 2019, which also caught the attention of then-President Trump. He later tweeted what appears to be a classified surveillance image of the launch failure. Satellite images from February suggested a failed Juljana launch earlier this year, although Iran did not acknowledge this.
Meanwhile, in April 2020 Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard revealed its own secret space program by successfully launching a satellite into orbit. The Guard operates its own military infrastructure in parallel with Iran’s regular armed forces.
It is not clear when or where the rocket was launched, but the announcement came after satellite images showed preparations at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s rural Seman province, where Iran repeatedly failed to put the satellite into orbit. Tried.
State-run media broadcast dramatic footage of the explosion against a backdrop of rising tensions over Tehran’s nuclear program, which is proceeding under a lack of international oversight.
Iran previously acknowledged that it had planned several tests for the satellite-carrying Zuljana rocket, named for the horse of Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet Muhammad. It was not immediately clear whether Iran successfully launched the satellite carrier into its intended orbit.
white House said it was aware of Iran’s announcement and described such actions as “helpless and destabilizing”. It said it was committed to using sanctions and other measures to prevent further progress in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
after the news The European UnionThe US foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, traveled to Tehran to resume talks on Iran’s nuclear program, which has been at a standstill for months. Several hard-hitting points remain, including Tehran’s demand that Washington lift the terrorism embargo on its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Borrell said talks on the nuclear deal would resume in the coming days in a Persian Gulf country, with Iranian media reporting that Qatar would host the talks.
former president donald trump In 2018 the US withdrew from the nuclear deal and again imposed crushing sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded by greatly speeding up its nuclear work and now enriches uranium closer to weapons-grade levels than ever before.
In another extension that limits international surveillance in its nuclear program, Iran this month removed more than two dozen International Atomic Energy Agency cameras from its nuclear sites.
Past rocket launches have drawn rebuke from the United States, which says such satellite launches defy a United Nations Security Council resolution requiring Iran to abstain from any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. has been invoked.
Iran, which has long said it does not want nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component.
Iran’s state news agency IRNA quoted Defense Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hosseini as saying that the satellite carrier would gather information in low-Earth orbit and serve to boost Iran’s nascent space programme.
That program has seen recent troubles, even as Iran sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and launched a monkey into space in 2013. There have been five consecutive unsuccessful launches for the Simorgh program, a type of satellite-carrying rocket. Officials said at the time that three researchers had also died in a fire at the Imam Khomeini spaceport in February 2019.
The launch pad used in preparations for the launch of the Zuljana rocket has been scorched by an explosion in August 2019, which also caught the attention of then-President Trump. He later tweeted what appears to be a classified surveillance image of the launch failure. Satellite images from February suggested a failed Juljana launch earlier this year, although Iran did not acknowledge this.
Meanwhile, in April 2020 Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard revealed its own secret space program by successfully launching a satellite into orbit. The Guard operates its own military infrastructure in parallel with Iran’s regular armed forces.