DUBAI: Iran has successfully tested a rocket that can send satellites into orbit, Iranian state television reported on Thursday, in an event likely to raise tensions with the United States because of its potential use in a ballistic missile.

Washington has claimed Iran is defying a UN resolution calling on it not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Tehran denies it has missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

“The Imam Khomeini Space Centre was officially opened with the successful test of the Simorgh (Phoenix) space launch vehicle,” state television said.

“The Simorgh can place a satellite weighing up to 250kg in an orbit of 500km.”

State television showed footage of the firing of the rocket, mounted on a launch-pad carrying the pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khome­ini, founder of the Islamic Republic, and Supreme lea­der Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The Imam Khomeini Space Centre ... is a large complex that includes all stages of the preparation, launch, control and guidance of satellites,” state television added.

The United States this month imposed new economic sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile programme, and claimed that Tehran’s “malign activities” in the Middle East had undercut any “positive contributions” from a 2015 accord curbing its nuclear programme.

The measures signalled that President Donald Trump wanted to put more pressure on Iran while keeping in place the accord between Tehran and six world powers, which he has in the past condemned.

Iran says its space programme is peaceful, but Western experts suspect the programme may be a cover for developing military missile technologies.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2017