A 300-kilogram payload, including a communications satellite developed by Iran’s Ministry of Defense, was launched into space.
Iranian state television reported Friday that the country successfully launched its heaviest payload to date using its domestically produced Simorgh carrier rocket.
The launch included the Saman-1 advanced satellite transfer module and the Fakhr-1 communications satellite, developed by the Iranian military. Both were successfully placed into an elliptical orbit, reaching a peak altitude of 410 kilometers, according to Reuters.
The broadcast described the payload, weighing slightly over 660 pounds, as a national record for the heaviest payload successfully launched into orbit.
This launch occurs amid heightened tensions between Iran and Western nations over regional conflicts and Iran’s nuclear program, which the US, France, Germany, and the UK consider a threat to international security. Western nations have also accused Iran of supplying ballistic missiles to Russia.
The Simorgh rocket launched from the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan province, approximately 220 kilometers east of Tehran, the location of Iran’s civilian space program. Iran first used the Simorgh rocket in January to launch three satellites.
A US intelligence report from July indicated that Iran’s space launch program could accelerate its ability to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile, given the technological overlap between the two systems.
UN Security Council resolutions, which expired in October 2023, called on Iran to cease activities related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
Iran consistently maintains that its nuclear and space programs are entirely peaceful. The 2015 Iran nuclear deal saw Iran agreeing to limit its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. However, following the US withdrawal from the agreement in 2018, efforts to revive it failed, and Iran increased its uranium enrichment to 60%.
Last year, media reports suggested the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was investigating Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 84%, a level described as only 6% below weapons-grade. Tehran dismissed these reports as slander and a distortion of facts.
In November, French intelligence claimed Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon within months, characterizing it as a critical threat.
A senior advisor to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed last month that Iran possesses the technical capabilities to produce nuclear weapons. While denying any current plans to do so, he stated that Iran retains the right to reconsider if its survival is threatened.