Tehran is planning to carry out a new satellite launch in the near future, IRNA reported on Wednesday, citing Iranian Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Amir Hatami, just one week after the country failed to launch its Payam satellite into orbit.

Following a cabinet session, Hatami confirmed to reporters that the launch, which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced last week, would take place soon, according to the IRNA news agency.

Hatami specified that the satellite would be launched by the Safir expendable launch vehicle, which is capable of putting satellites into 260-kilometre (16-mile) orbits.

The minister emphasized that Iran was constantly improving its capacities in satellite launches.

Earlier in January, Rouhani said that two domestically made satellites would be launched "in the coming days" despite the US claims that this would violate a UN Security Council resolution, which deals mostly with Tehran's nuclear program.

The following day, Rouhani said that Iran would carry out a new satellite launch in the coming months as part of its space program, having resolved the "minor" problems.

Iran insists that the launches do not violate the UN Security Council resolutions and are part of the nation's space exploration program.

Source: Sputnik News

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Iran satellite in US row fails to reach orbit: state media
Tehran (AFP) Jan 15, 2019
Iran launched a satellite criticised by the United States on Tuesday but it failed to reach orbit, state television quoted the telecommunications minister as saying. "The Payam satellite was successfully launched this morning with the Basir satellite carrier. But the satellite unfortunately failed to be placed in orbit in the final stage," Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi said. Payam and its carrier had gone through successful testing of its first and second stages, the minister said. But in the ... read more