An Iranian satellite-carrying rocket on Tuesday blasted off into space, but scientists failed to put the device into orbit in a launch criticized by the US as helping the Islamic Republic further develop its ballistic missile program.
After the launch, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated his allegation that Iran’s space program could help it develop a missile capable of carrying a nuclear weapon to the mainland US.
Iran maintained that its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component.
Photo: AP
Tehran also said that it did not contravene a UN resolution that only “called upon” it not to conduct such tests.
In his statement, Pompeo said that the vehicle Iran tried to put into orbit uses technology that is “virtually identical and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles, including intercontinental ballistic missiles.”
The rocket carrying the Payam satellite failed to reach the “necessary speed” in the third stage of its launch, Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi said.
That suggests something went wrong after the rocket pushed the satellite out of the Earth’s atmosphere, Jahromi said without elaborating on what caused the failure.
Iran had said that it plans to send two non-military satellites, Payam and Doosti, into orbit.
The Payam, which means “message” in Farsi, was an imagery satellite that Iranian officials said would help with farming and other activities.
It is unclear how the failure of the Payam would affect the launch timing for the Doosti, which means “friendship.”
Iranian state television aired footage of its reporter narrating the launch of the Simorgh rocket, saying that it sent “a message of the pride, self-confidence and willpower of Iranian youth to the world.”
Ahmad Motamedi, chancellor of Tehran Amirkabir University of Technology, which designed the satellite, told the semi-official Mehr news agency that Jahromi has already ordered them to design another satellite.
“Now, we have earned plenty of experience and we will be able to make a new satellite quicker,” he said.
Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.
Iran usually displays space achievements in February during the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the revolution.
Pompeo has said that Iran’s plans for sending satellites into orbit demonstrate the nation’s defiance of a UN Security Council resolution that calls on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
There was no immediate US reaction to the launch on Tuesday.
Iranian state television aired footage of Iranian Atomic Energy Organization head Ali Akbar Salehi apparently from a previous interview saying that Tehran could raise its enrichment of uranium “instantly.”
“In a matter of four days we [are able] to start,” he said.
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