In response to a warning by Britain, France and Germany (the “E3”) that the nuclear deal would soon become a “hollow shell,” Ali Bakri-Kani, who heads the Iranian team for talks, called for “real diplomacy” instead of “games of mutual accusations.”
After Iran’s launch of a powerful new three-stage rocket, the “Zuljanah” space launch vehicle (SLV), in February 2021, the Iranians claimed that the rocket could “loft a 500-pound payload as high as 310 miles.”
According to a Forbes Magazine analysis, the “Zuljanah” rocket “is adequate to place a satellite in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and, for Iran, a big step forward for both its space program and its effort to develop delivery vehicles for possible future nuclear warheads.”
An SLV is not just an SLV
Indeed, Iran Watch warns that “the systems that enable a space launch vehicle (SLV) to release a satellite at the right speed, in the right direction, and at the right time for it to enter orbit could also enable an ICBM to release its re-entry vehicle with a similar level of precision.” The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency found that Iran’s new “Simorgh” (Safir-2) SLV “could be capable of ICBM ranges if configured as a ballistic missile.”
The new satellite images were taken over the Imam Khomeini Space Center in northeastern Iran’s Semnan province, a desert area 150 miles from Tehran. The photos indicate considerable activity at the space terminal, which reinforces assessments that Iran is about to launch a new SLV. The Imam Khomeini Spaceport is a permanent satellite launch site, from which ballistic missiles were previously launched. READ MORE
