After days of silence, Iran has finally acknowledged satellite images showing that there was an explosion at a rocket site last week.
Iran on Monday said that the photos that have been circulating since last week and show a blast at the Imam Khomeini Space Center are accurate. The explosion came before a planned satellite launch by Iran that the U.S. has criticized.
Government spokesman Ali Rabiei, 63, said that the malfunction was technical in nature and not an act of sabotage as some have postulated, according to the Associated Press. This has been the third failure at the center involving a rocket.
“This has been a technical matter and a technical error. Our experts unanimously say so,” Rabiei said, brushing off the possibility of sabotage.
“The explosion happened at the launchpad and no satellite had yet been transferred to the launchpad,” he said. “It happened at a test site, not at the launch site.”
Commercially available satellite photos of the area showed what appeared to be charred pieces of a rocket on a launch pad with a plume of black smoke billowing from the site. President Trump tweeted out a photo Friday that appeared to be a once-classified image that showed damage to the rocket launcher and burnt vehicles surrounding the pad.
“The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran,” Trump wrote in his tweet, noting the type of rocket used.
“I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One,” he added.
The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One. pic.twitter.com/z0iDj2L0Y3
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 30, 2019
Rabiei condemned Trump’s tweet about the Iranian failure.
“We don’t understand why the U.S president tweets and posts satellite pictures with excitement. This is not understandable,” he said. “Maybe this is because lack of Iran-related subjects that they raise such issues.”
The U.S. has harshly criticized Iran’s past satellite launches using rockets. It claims that the tests violate a UN Security Council resolution that urges the country not to undertake any action related to ballistic missiles that could be capable of holding nuclear armaments.
