Iran Rocket Launch, Possible Satellite Test, Is Failure, Defense Ministry Says

Iran’s launch of three unknown devices failed to make it into orbit after the rocket carrying the payloads did not reach the necessary speed. Iran’s Defense Ministry made the announcement regarding Thursday’s launch over the weekend on state television. The launch using the Simorgh, or Phoenix satellite rocket was believed to be a test before upcoming attempts to put satellites into orbit. Iran has had several failed satellite launches in recent years, reportedly due to technical issues. The launch violates a United Nations Security Council resolution from 2015 calling on Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons, according to several world powers. Iran’s Foreign Ministry responded to such charges by denying that the Islamic Republic’s space activity is a cover for ballistic missile development and that “scientific and research advances, including in the field of aerospace, are the inalienable right of the Iranian people, and such meddling statements will not undermine the Iranian people’s determination to make progress in this field.” In April 2020, Iran announced that it had put the country’s first military satellite into orbit The failed launch attempt comes as Iran and the world powers are in the middle of an eighth round of negotiations in Vienna aimed at reviving the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which trades a rollback in Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.