- Iran claims Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 460 miles above Earth
Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has sent a new satellite into space, stoking fears in the West that the launch will boost Tehran’s ballistic missile programme.
The Iranian Soraya satellite was placed into orbit at some 460 miles (750km) above the Earth’s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said.
It did not immediately disclose what the satellite did, though telecommunications minister Isa Zarepour described the launch as having a 110-pound (50kg) payload.
The satellite launch was part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ (IRGC) space program alongside Iran’s civilian space program, the report said, adding that it had reached the highest orbit yet.
Alarm bells are ringing over the launch amid mounting tensions in the region, with the US previously warning that Iran’s satellite programme could help speed up its development of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Footage released by Iranian media today showed the rocket blast off from a mobile launcher, a religious verse referring to Shiite Islam’s 12th hidden imam written on its side.
Analysis of the footage suggested the launch happened at the Guard’s launch pad on the outskirts of the city of Shahroud, some 215 miles (350km) east of the capital, Tehran.
Iran‘s three latest successful satellite launches have all happened at the site.
The satellite has already begun transmitting telemetry data after being launched this morning, according to the Fars News Agency.
Under Iran’s relatively moderate former President Hassan Rouhani, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West.
Hardline President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, has pushed the program forward.
The US intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles ‘shortens the timeline’ for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons.
Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.
Tehran has enough enriched uranium for ‘several’ nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency has repeatedly has warned.
Iran has always denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program, like its nuclear activities, is for purely civilian purposes.
However, US intelligence agencies and the IAEA say Iran had an organized military nuclear program up until 2003.
The involvement of the Guard in the launches, as well as it being able to launch the rocket from a mobile launcher, raise concerns for the West. The Guard, which answers only to Khamenei, revealed its space program back in 2020.
The US has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.
The US intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles ‘shortens the timeline’ for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.
The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes in each others’ countries.
It also came on the same day as the IRGC said four of its members, including a spy chief and his deputy, were among those killed in an airstrike in Syria that it has blamed on Israel.
Meanwhile, the US has been conducting new strikes on Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who have been targeting shipping in the Red Sea over the war.
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Elena Salvoni
