PARIS In what seemed designed as a display of technological advance, Iran said on Wednesday that it had fired a rocket into space carrying living organisms a rat, two turtles and worms, according to the official broadcaster Press TV.
The test of what was described as the Kavoshgar-3 rocket, capable of carrying satellites, came as Tehran government faced challenges on many fronts.
Iran is preparing to celebrate the 31st anniversary of the Islamic revolution in 1979, but it is locked in dispute with the United States and other powers over its nuclear program, and its leaders are facing the worst political crisis since the revolution in the wake of last Junes flawed presidential elections.
Irans missile program has prompted worries among Western analysts that it is working on a weapons delivery system with broad regional consequences. In December, Iran said it test-fired an improved version of its most advanced missile, the Sejil-2, capable of reaching Israel and parts of Europe.
The latest launch came days after officials in Washington said the Obama administration is accelerating the deployment of new defenses against possible Iranian missile attacks in the Persian Gulf, placing special ships off the Iranian coast and antimissile systems in at least four Arab countries.
Press TV said Wednesday that the Kavoshgar, or Explorer, was the third of its type to be launched space since February 2008 and was carrying an experimental capsule to transfer telemetric data, live pictures and other information to Earth. A second Kavoshgar was launched in November 2008, Press TV said. The model launched on Wednesday was described as an updated version of the earlier rockets.
One year ago, Iran said it launched a domestically made telecommunications and research satellite, the Omid, into orbit.
On Wednesday, Press TV said, the Iranian Aerospace Organization said live video transmission from latest launch would enable further studies on the biological capsule carrying a rat, two turtles and worms as it leaves Earths atmosphere and enters space.
Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi said the space program was specifically for peaceful purposes and Iran would not tolerate any unpeaceful use of space by any country, the official IRNA news agency said.
State television broadcast what it said were images of the Kavoshgar-3 hurtling from a desert launch pad, leaving a thick vapor trail. Before the launch, officials were shown putting what looked like living organisms inside a capsule placed in the rocket.
Also on Wednesday, Iran unveiled another satellite carrier, Simorgh-3, and three new domestically built satellites.
Press TV showed a group of Iranian officials and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad standing in front of the blue and white Simorgh-3 rocket and quoted the Iranian leader as saying his country had made miraculous scientific achievements.
Mr. Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying Iran was prepared for technological cooperation with the rest of the world and that Irans science was just the start of a new era of development. But, he said, Tehrans goal was scientific progress, not military confrontation.
Reuters quoted a Press TV broadcast as saying the launch on Wednesday was the first to carry a living thing.
This was a huge breakthrough, President Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying. And we hope we can send our own astronauts into space soon.
After months of unsuccessful diplomatic overtures, the Obama administration is seeking broad international support for sanctions against the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, which Western nations say controls a covert nuclear arms program. Tehran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes only.
President Obama, in his State of the Union address, warned of consequences if Iran continued to defy United Nations demands to stop manufacturing nuclear fuel. Last Friday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton publicly warned China that its opposition to sanctions against Iran was shortsighted.
Needless to say things have changed a bit since then and its entirelly possible that anything pre-Ayatollah Khomeni (sp?) is considered non-binding by the current government anyway.
(*takes note: first look at the thread title, then post.*)
