Iran reportedly launched a rocket into space on Sunday as negotiations between the United States and Tehran on the nuclear deal scrapped in 2018 are expected to resume in the “coming days.”
Iranian state television aired footage of the solid-fueled rocket, named “Zuljanah,” being launched into space on Sunday. It is the second test of the satellite-carrying rocket that was first launched in February of last year. Western nations worry that the Iranian satellite program is a cover for the regime’s development of ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
“The third development phase of the Zuljanah satellite launcher will be based on a combination of information gained during today’s launch,” an Iranian defense ministry spokesman told state TV, according to Reuters.
IRAN NUCLEAR TALKS TO RESUME WITH US IN ‘COMING DAYS,’ EU SAYS
The spokesman added that the nearly 85-foot-long rocket was capable of carrying a 485-pound satellite into orbit.
Iran claims the satellites will gather data in low-Earth orbit and promote Iran’s space industry.
It’s unclear if the test was successful and from where the rocket was launched; however, satellite photos from earlier this month showed a launch site being prepared at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran’s Semnan province.
The White House said it was aware of Iran’s announced rocket launch and criticized it as “unhelpful and destabilizing,” according to a report.
The launch comes one day after Iran’s foreign minister and the European Union’s foreign policy chief both said that nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran are expected to resume “in the coming days.”
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Sunday that he couldn’t speak on the status of negotiations with Iran, but “nothing has changed about our position that a nuclear deal is the best way to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons status.”
In December 2021, Iranian state media said that the country had launched a rocket carrying three research devices into space as negotiators from Tehran and Washington held indirect talks in Vienna attempting to salvage the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear pact.
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Former President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Iran.
