Iran said it launched a satellite into space on Saturday using a rocket built by the Revolutionary Guards, a paramilitary organization that reports directly to the leader of the revolution.
It is the latest update in a program that the West fears could help Tehran advance its ballistic missile program.
Iran called the launch a success, meaning it is the second time it has put a satellite into orbit using a rocket.
However, the launch was not immediately independently confirmed, and Iranian authorities did not immediately provide video or other evidence of the launch, as they had done previously.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, during which Tehran launched a unprecedented missile and drone attack against Israel.
Iran has continued to enrich uranium to near-weapons levels, raising concerns among nonproliferation experts about Tehran’s program.
The United States has in the past said Iran’s satellite launches defied a United Nations resolution and urged Tehran not to undertake activities involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
UN sanctions on Iran’s ballistic missile program have expired (in English) last October.
Under former President Hassan Rouhani, a relatively moderate, the Islamic Republic slowed its space program for fear of escalating Western tensions.
However, hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi pushed ahead with the program before died in a helicopter crash in May.
It is unclear what Masoud Pezeshkian, the country’s new president, wants for the program, as he remained silent on the issue during the election campaign.
According to an assessment by US intelligence services, the development of satellite launch vehicles “would shorten the time” needed for Iran to develop an intercontinental missile, as it uses similar technology.
Intercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons, and the International Atomic Energy Agency has warned that Tehran has enough enriched uranium to make “several“nuclear weapons if he decided to do so.
Iran has consistently denied seeking nuclear weapons and says its space program is purely civilian.
However, US intelligence and the IAEA claim that Iran had an organized military nuclear program until 2003.
Tensions are rising not only against the backdrop of escalating tensions in the Middle East, but also between the West and Russia.
Last week, Putin spoke with a senior Iranian security official in St. Petersburg, thanking Iran for maintain cooperation with Russia.
Putin also said that Russia was waiting for the official visit of the new Iranian president to sign a “new major interstate agreement aimed at consolidating the level of strategic partnership between Russia and Iran”.
On Thursday, the European Union said it had received “credible information” according to which **Iran would have delivered drones and missiles to Russia as part of its war against Ukraine, calling this act “new military escalation” for both countries.
