Iran’s Satellite Launches Have Nothing to Do with Missiles, Minister Says

Addressing a ceremony held in Tehran on Sunday to mark the National Space Technology Day, Azari Jahromi said some Western states lie by saying that Iran aims to develop its missile program through launching satellites.

Two international organizations monitored Iran’s space program and confirmed that the program is meant for peaceful purposes, he added.   

However, the minister said, the space program has been targetted with sanctions, which have only led to the country standing on its own in this area.

Earlier this week, Azari Jahromi had said that the advanced domestically made satellite dubbed “Dousti (friendship)” is planned to be launched in the near future.

Iran has in recent years made great headways in space technology thanks to the efforts made by its local scientists.

The country successfully launched its first indigenous data-processing satellite, Omid (Hope), into orbit in February 2009.

In February 2017, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani unveiled 3 new achievements in the space industry, including Payam, which has been made in Tehran’s Amirkabir University of Technology with the mission to take surveying images at resolutions below 40 meters. Equipped with a range of homegrown technologies, the satellite will go into orbit with a local carrier.

In July 2017, Iran inaugurated the Imam Khomeini National Space Center with the successful test-launch of a homegrown satellite carrier dubbed Simorgh.

The center, home to Iran’s first fixed launch platform, administrates the development, launch, and navigation of Iranian satellite carriers.

Designed and built in compliance with international standards, the Imam Khomeini National Space Center is going to handle all space projects in the low‑Earth orbit (LEO).