Latest Developments
The United States expressed concern on September 14 after Iran successfully launched a satellite into space using a rocket developed by its widely sanctioned Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Following the launch, a State Department official told the Associated Press that the United States has “long made clear our concern that Iran’s space launch vehicle programs provide a pathway to expand its longer-range missile systems.”
On September 14, Iran’s state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported the launch of a Qaem-100 — a solid-fuel rocket designed by the IRGC’s aerospace experts — from an IRGC space launch base near the city of Shahroud. The rocket carried Iran’s 132-pound Chamram-1 satellite into a 340-mile orbit. IRNA quoted Iranian officials who claimed that the Chamram-1 is the first Iranian-made satellite that could change its orbit. “The satellites that we have so far launched into space were mainly active in the field of imaging and telecommunications, and when they were placed in orbit, we were not able to change and move the orbit, and we did not have orbital maneuverers for the sent satellites,” Commodore Amir Rastegari, managing director of Iran Electronics Industries, said.
Iran has long been accused of using its space program as a test bed for intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) technology that could target the United States and Europe. According to experts, space launch vehicles and carrier rockets are essentially identical to the technology needed to launch an ICBM.
Expert Analysis
“Slowly and steadily, Iran’s military space program has come out of the shadows. Tehran’s progress on large-diameter solid-propellant motors has allowed it to develop an all-solid-propellant three-stage space-launch vehicle like the Qaem. This puts the regime one step closer to perfecting a delivery vehicle for a potential nuclear weapon that could threaten the European continent and American homeland.” — Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD Senior Fellow
“Iran’s space program has long served as a cover for developing and testing components for an ICBM. With Iran sending missiles to Russia for use against Ukraine, Russia may well be reciprocating by supplying Iran with the tools and knowledge necessary to grow its space launch program. Paired with Iran’s recent acceleration in enriched uranium production, this space launch capability inches the country closer to fielding a nuclear weapon that can threaten the U.S. homeland.” — Tyler Stapleton, Director of Congressional Relations at FDD Action
Iran’s Recent Satellite Launches
On January 28, Iran announced that it had successfully launched three satellites into low Earth orbit using the two-stage, liquid-fueled Simorgh (“Phoenix”) rocket developed by Iranian Ministry of Defense (MODAFL) affiliates and overseen by the U.S.-sanctioned Iranian Space Agency (ISA). The previous week, the IRGC launched the domestic Soraya satellite using the Qaem-100. That launch followed a failed effort to launch three satellites in December and a successful launch of the Noor-3 satellite into orbit using a Qased rocket in September 2023.
Washington’s Warning About Iran’s Missile Program
Iran possesses the Middle East’s largest inventory of ballistic missiles and has been “improving the accuracy, lethality, and reliability of its missiles,” according to a 2024 U.S. intelligence report. A U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence report also warned that “Iran’s work on space launch vehicles (SLVs)—including its Simorgh—would shorten the timeline to produce an ICBM” because of the shared technologies within space launch and ballistic missile capabilities.
Washington has maintained that Iranian satellite launches violate UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which prohibits Iranian ballistic missile tests or activities capable of delivering nuclear weapons. In October 2023, when associated UN sanctions lapsed, the United States and its European partners applied new sanctions against Iran’s ballistic missile and drone programs.
Source » fdd