First Iranian-made satellite launched into orbit (2nd Roundup)

Feb 3, 2009, 17:42 GMT

Tehran - Iran launched into orbit its first domestically produced satellite Tuesday morning, the official news agency IRNA reported.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ordered the launching of the satellite called Omid, or hope, on a domestically produced Safir 2 rocket, IRNA said.

The United States is concerned about the satellite launch because it could be a precursor to the development of ballistic missiles, US State Department spokesman Robert Wood said.

'Developing a space launch vehicle that ... could put a satellite into orbit could possibly lead to development of a ballistic missile system,' Wood said. 'So that's of grave concern to us.'

Wood noted that a UN Security Council resolution prohibits Iran from engaging in missile-related activities and said the development would likely come up in discussions Tuesday in Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's meetings with British Foreign Minister David Miliband and German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The televised launch came on the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

The Safir rocket was tested twice last year and hailed by Tehran as major progress in Iran's aerospace technology, in spite of international sanctions because of its nuclear programmes.

The government insists the sanctions have not affected Iran's development and even encouraged local experts to increase the country's technological advance.

   Ahmadinejad proclaimed on state television that scientists put the first satellite into orbit and established Iran's presence in space with a message of peace and brotherhood.

   The president rejected Western charges that the country's aerospace projects had any military aims and said that unlike in the West, Iran's technology was 'celestial.'

   Tehran has often claimed its satellite projects are scientific rather than military projects, and blamed the West of trying to distort Iran's scientific achievements by portraying them as aggressive.

   The United States and Israel voiced concern about the test launches last year, because the same technology could be used to carry ballistic missiles.

   But Iran's defence ministry said the world was aware that the project was just an 'ultra-modern scientific achievement' for Iran, and criticized the US and Israel for distorting the motives of the 'technological breakthrough.'

   Tehran also plans to help other Islamic states launch satellites.