"The Nour-3 imaging satellite... was successfully placed in orbit 450 kilometers above earth," the IRNA news agency said, quoting Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Issa Zarepour.
He said it was carried by the three-stage Qassed satellite carrier, which also launched predecessors Nour-2 in 2022 and Nour-1 in 2020.
The launch was carried out by the aerospace wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the ideological arm of the country's armed forces.
IRGC commander Hossein Salami was quoted as having told state television that the new satellite would provide higher resolution images than its predecessors enabling the Guards to "meet their intelligence needs".
Iran has several times tried to launch satellites into space. In January, a top Iranian official claimed that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had launched a solid-fuel satellite carrier rocket into space and that the test was successful.
A month earlier, Iran claimed it had successfully launched three research satellites into space. According to Ahmad Hosseini, a Defense Ministry spokesman, the rocket used was a Simorgh.
A day later, however, Iran acknowledged that the space launch failed to put its three payloads into orbit after the rocket was unable to reach the required speed.
Iran says its satellite program, like its nuclear activities, is aimed at scientific research and other civilian applications.
US officials say that Iran’s satellite launches defy UN Security Council Resolution 2231.
Resolution 2231 enshrined Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States and calls on Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
