[FPSPACE] Now: "Dummy satellite" sent into space by Iran?

[Peter Pesavento]

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Iran_rocket_launch_troubling_US_08172008.html

 

The plot thickens..AFP is now reporting a dummy satellite was sent into
space.

 

 

Courtesy Agency France Presse

 

Iran rocket launch 'troubling': US

Published: Sunday August 17, 2008

The White House said Sunday that Iran's announcement it had launched a
home-built rocket into space was "troubling" because such technology could
also be used for ballistic missiles.

"The Iranian development and testing of rockets is troubling and raises
further questions about their intentions," spokesman Gordon Johndroe said as
US President George W. Bush spent time on his Texas ranch.

"This action and dual use possibilities for their ballistic missile program
have been a subject of IAEA discussions and are inconsistent with their UN
Security Council obligations," Johndroe said, referring to the International
Atomic Energy Agency -- the UN nuclear watchdog.

He spoke after Tehran said it had sent a home-built rocket carrying a dummy
satellite into space on Sunday, in a move that could further exacerbate
tensions with the West over its nuclear drive.

"The Safir (Ambassador) rocket was successfully launched. All its systems
... are Iranian made," Reza Taghipour, head of Iran's space agency, told
state television, adding that a "test satellite was put into orbit."

"We have paved the way for placing a satellite in space in future," state
television said, showing images of the pre-dawn rocket launch.

Western governments suspect Iran is trying to build an atomic weapon and
have voiced concern that the technology used in the Islamic republic's space
program could be diverted to military use, claims denied by Tehran.

Sunday's development came amid an international standoff over Tehran's
long-standing refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, a process which makes
nuclear fuel but also the core of an atomic bomb.



 

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