Iran puts military satellite into orbit

TEHRAN: Iran announced on Tuesday it had successfully placed a military satellite into orbit, as talks on reviving a 2015 nuclear deal between Tehran and major powers reach a critical stage.

"Iran’s second military satellite -- named Nour-2 has been launched into space by the Qassed rocket of the aerospace wing of the Revolutionary Guards and successfully placed in orbit 500-km above the earth," the official IRNA news agency reported.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps described the Nour-2 as a "reconnaissance satellite" in a statement on its Sepah News website.

It said the satellite was launched from the Shahroud desert in Semnan province, some 300-km east of the capital. Telecommunications Minister Issa Zarepour hailed the successful launch.

"The first signals from Nour-2 have been successfully received by ground stations," he said in statement on IRNA. "This reconnaissance satellite will orbit the earth every 90 minutes, and its mission will last at least three years."

The United States has repeatedly voiced concern that such launches could boost Iran’s ballistic missile technology. But Iran insists it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that its satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defensive purposes only. Iran successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from Washington.