Iran confirms space centre blast, slams Trump tweet

TEHRAN: Iran on Monday confirmed an explosion at one of its satellite launch pads, saying it was due to a technical fault, and criticised US President Donald Trump for "gleefully" tweeting about it.

Trump said the US had nothing to do with what he called a "catastrophic accident" at Semnan Space Centre in a tweet on Friday alongside a high-resolution picture pointing to apparent damage at the site.

Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said the launch pad had been vacant when last week´s explosion occurred, in Iran´s first admission that an accident occurred at the space centre in the north of the country.

"The explosion was in the launch pad and a satellite had not yet been transferred there," Rabiei told state television. "Fortunately, nobody was killed in this incident. It was a technical issue... and it´s now clear how this happened."