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Iran: Revolutionary Guards launch satellite-carrying rockets

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates –

Iran’s powerful paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps launched a new satellite-carrying rocket on Saturday, state television reported, seeking to demonstrate its space prowess even when Anti-government protests took place across the country.

State TV said the Self-Defense Forces had successfully launched a solid-fuel rocket – what it called the Ghaem-100 satellite carrier. Iranian state television immediately did not show any footage of the launch. State news agency IRNA reported that the carrier could put an 80-kilogram (176-pound) satellite into orbit about 500 kilometers (310 miles) from Earth.

General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the Guard’s aerospace division, said he hoped the Guard would soon use rockets to put a new satellite, named Nahid, into orbit.

Iran says its satellite program, like its nuclear activities, is aimed at scientific research and other civilian applications. The United States and other Western countries have long been skeptical of the program because similar technology could be used to develop long-range missiles. Previous launches have received criticism from the US

Over the past decade, Iran has put several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space. However, the program has been in trouble lately. There have been five consecutive failed launches of the Simorgh program, another satellite-carrying rocket. Authorities say a fire at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in February 2019 killed three researchers. A launch rocket explosion later that year caught the attention of former President Donald Trump.

The Guard’s announcement comes during the seventh week of protests sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained after allegedly breaching a strict dress code. country for women. Protests that drew the country’s focus at first on the hijab or state-mandated headscarf, but quickly morphed into one of the biggest challenges facing the government since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Protesters called for the overthrow of clerical rule and the death of the supreme leader.

Security forces, including paramilitary volunteers with the Revolutionary Guards, violently suppressed the protests, killing more than 300 people, according to human rights groups.

On Saturday, student unions in Iran reported protests at at least six major universities across the country. Universities have become the center of unrest, fueling the protest movement despite the crackdown.



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