February 04, 2009	Wednesday	Safar 08, 1430

TEHRAN, Feb 3: Iran said on Tuesday it has launched its first home-built satellite into orbit, raising fresh concerns among world powers already at odds with Tehran over its nuclear drive.

Iranian state television showed footage of a rocket blasting off from a launchpad and lighting up the night sky as it streaked into space.

“Dear Iranians, your children have put the first indigenous satellite into orbit. With God’s help and the desire for justice and peace, the official presence of the Islamic Republic was registered in space,” a jubilant President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on state television after a launch coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah.

The Omid (Hope) satellite was sent into space on Monday evening carried by the home-built Safir-2 space rocket.

In Washington, State Department spokesman Robert Wood said the satellite programme could “possibly lead to the development of ballistic missiles. That’s of great concern to us,” he said.

France expressed concern, saying the technology used was “very similar” to that employed in ballistic missiles.

“We can’t but link this to the very serious concerns about the development of military nuclear capacity,” foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said in Paris.

In London, British Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell voiced “serious concerns” over the launch.

The state news agency IRNA said the satellite would take orbital measurements and would circle the Earth 15 times every 24 hours.

Iranian aerospace expert Asghar Ebrahimi said Omid has an elliptical orbit of minimum of 250 kilometres and maximum 400 kilometres.—Agencies