{"id":11951,"date":"2024-01-20T12:20:46","date_gmt":"2024-01-20T12:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=11951"},"modified":"2024-01-20T12:20:46","modified_gmt":"2024-01-20T12:20:46","slug":"iran-launches-satellite-amid-regional-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/20\/iran-launches-satellite-amid-regional-tensions\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran Launches Satellite Amid Regional Tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Sudan Events \u2013 Sumaya Sayed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Iran said it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a programme the West fears improves Tehran&#8217;s ballistic missiles.<br \/>\nThe Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometres above the Earth&#8217;s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket, the state-run IRNA news agency said on Saturday.<br \/>\nIt did not immediately acknowledge what the satellite did, though telecommunications minister Isa Zarepour described the launch as having a 50-kilogramme payload.<br \/>\nThe launch was part of Iran&#8217;s Revolutionary Guards&#8217; space programme alongside Iran&#8217;s civilian space programme, the report said.<br \/>\nThere was no immediate independent confirmation Iran had successfully put the satellite in orbit. The US military and the State Department did not immediately respond to request for comment.<br \/>\nThe announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel&#8217;s ongoing war in Gaza, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat air strikes in both countries.<br \/>\nThe United States has previously said Iran&#8217;s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.<br \/>\nUN sanctions related to Iran&#8217;s ballistic missile programme expired last October.<br \/>\nThe US intelligence community&#8217;s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles &#8220;shortens the timeline&#8221; for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile because it uses similar technology.<br \/>\nIntercontinental ballistic missiles can be used to deliver nuclear weapons. Iran is now producing uranium close to weapons-grade levels after the collapse of its nuclear deal with world powers.<br \/>\nTehran has enough enriched uranium for &#8220;several&#8221; nuclear weapons, if it chooses to produce them, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sudan Events \u2013 Sumaya Sayed Iran said it had conducted a successful satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a programme the West fears improves Tehran&#8217;s ballistic missiles. The Soraya satellite was placed in an orbit at some 750 kilometres above the Earth&#8217;s surface with its three-stage Qaem 100 rocket, the state-run &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11952,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11951","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11951","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11951"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11951\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11953,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11951\/revisions\/11953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11951"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11951"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11951"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}