Iran announces launch of rocket carrying research devices

Iran claims to have launched three space research devices into space on Thursday, December 30. “The Simorgh satellite launcher sent three devices”, announced Ahmad Hosseini, spokesperson for the space unit of the Iranian Ministry of Defense, quoted by state television. “The research objectives planned for this launch have been achieved”, he added, without giving further details. Tehran announced in February that it had tested a new satellite launcher equipped with its “more powerful” solid fuel engine.

This project could arouse condemnation from the West, while the negotiations to save the Iranian nuclear agreement concluded in 2015 were relaunched at the end of November, after a five-month hiatus between Tehran and the countries still party to the pact (France , United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, China). The agreement, validated by UN Security Council resolution 2231, calls on Tehran to “not to carry out any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to carry nuclear charges, including fire using ballistic missile technology”.

The Revolutionary Guards, the ideological army of the Islamic Republic, launched their first military satellite in April 2020. The United States then considered that this launch proved that the Iranian space program was intended for military rather than commercial purposes.

Westerners suspect Iran of seeking to develop, using the technology of its satellite launchers, long-range ballistic launchers capable of carrying conventional or nuclear charges. Affirming that it has no intention of acquiring atomic weapons, Tehran assures that its ballistics and space programs do not go against the UN resolution.