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“We are not afraid of failure and we will not lose hope. With your prayers and trust in God, the Zafar satellite by the end of this week ... will be heading toward an orbit of 530 km from Earth,” Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted.
Iran is preparing to launch a new satellite into space by the end of this week, a government minister said on Monday, as part of a fledging program that the United States says is a cover for ballistic missile development.
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The Islamic Republic, which has attempted to launch satellites into space before, has developed this program over the last decade, despite accusations from the U.S. about using this as a cover to build their ballistic missile arsenal.
“We are not afraid of failure and we will not lose hope. With your prayers and trust in God, the Zafar satellite by the end of this week ... will be heading toward an orbit of 530 km from Earth,” Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi tweeted.
Prior to this upcoming launch, Iran had at least two failed satellite launches last year. These two satellite launches were monitored closely by the international community, especially the U.S., who has taken a keen interest in the Islamic Republic's program.
The U.S. fears that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could be used by the Islamic Republic to launch nuclear warheads in the future. Iran has repeatedly denied these claims, adding that they have no interest in developing a nuclear weapon.
U.S. President Donald Trump and his administration have reimposed sanctions against Iran following Washington’s 2018 withdrawal from an international accord designed to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Trump said the nuclear deal did not go far enough and did not include restrictions on Tehran’s missile program.
Tensions have reached the highest level in decades between Iran and the United States after Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike on Jan. 3, prompting Iran to retaliate with a missile attack against a U.S. base in Iraq.
Iran launched its first satellite Omid (Hope) in 2009 and the Rasad (Observation) satellite was sent into orbit in June 2011. Tehran said in 2012 that it had successfully put its third domestically-made satellite Navid (Promise) into orbit.
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