Iran’s Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi on Monday night told State TV that his country had succeeded in launching the Payam (“message” in Farsi) satellite, in defiance of the US and the UN Security Council, but the satellite failed to reach orbit.
Earlier in January, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Iran’s plan to send satellites into orbit, and suggested the plan demonstrates the Islamic Republic’s defiance of a UNSC resolution ordering Iran not to engage in any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Minister Jahromi reported that the carrier rocket for the satellite failed to reach “necessary speed” in the third stage of the launch.
He pointed out that the same carrier rocket had successfully passed the first and second stages of the launch.
He really did.
In recent years, Iran has been able to launch into orbit its Simorgh and Pajouhesh satellites, which remained a short while in orbit. Iran’s next satellite scheduled for a launch is the Doosti (“friendship” in Farsi).
In 2013, Iran launched a monkey into space and claimed to have brought it back, but the before and after launch pictures show two different monkeys.
Meanwhile, according to Tansim, on Sunday, Iran’s Deputy Defense Minister General Qassem Taqizadeh announced a homegrown long-range cruise missile dubbed ‘Soumar’ is going to be delivered to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
