News
Iran reports successful missile test
Iran has successfully launched its most advanced satellite-carrying rocket into space.
The story was broken by YJC.ir, an affiliate of Iranian state television and the semi-official Fars news agency.
Experts say the “Simorgh” (Phoenix) rocket was a copy of North Korea’s Unha space-launch rocket. It is capable of carrying a satellite weighing 250 kilograms (550 pounds).
The launch took place at the Imam Khomeini National Space Station in Semnan, approximately 138 miles east of Tehran.
In a report last month, the U.S. National Air and Space Intelligence Centre said the Simorgh could act as a test for developing the technologies needed to produce an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The report stated that “Tehran’s desire to have a strategic counter to the United States could drive it to field an ICBM. Progress in Iran’s space program could shorten a pathway to an ICBM because space launch vehicles use inherently similar technologies”.
State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said the US considers the launch to constitute “continued ballistic missile development” and called it a “provocative action” that, if confirmed, could be a “violation of UN Security Council resolutions”.
Missile tests are not prevented under the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and the P5+1 but they do violate United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, which calls upon Iran “not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology.” The U.S. said Thursday that such a rocket is inherently designed to be able to carry a nuclear warhead.
The Iranian defence ministry denied the space program is a cover for weapons development.
On 18th July, the US Treasury placed new sanctions on Iranian individuals and groups supporting Iran’s ballistic missile programme and Iranian non-state military groups. Yesterday, the US Senate voted 98-2 to approve a new package of stiff financial terrorism sanctions against Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard.