The event, which was broadcast on Iranian media, showed the rocket being launched from a mobile platform, roughly 215 miles east of the capital Tehran.
Iran launched a satellite into space on Saturday with a rocket built by the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, state-run media reported, but the launch has drawn attention from the West due to fears that the technology used could accelerate its ballistic missile development.
According to the state-run media Tasnim News Agency, the rocket, identified as the Qaem-100, is a solid-fuel, three-stage rocket that launched the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 132 pounds, into a 340-mile orbit. The event, which was broadcast on Iranian media, showed the rocket being launched from a mobile platform near the city of Shahroud, roughly 215 miles east of the capital Tehran, according to an Associated Press analysis of the video and other imagery.
This launch, described as a success by Iran, marks the second time the Qaem-100 rocket has carried a satellite into orbit, following a launch earlier this year.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions in the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on the Gaza Strip, sparking fears of a regional conflict as Iran-linked groups in Yemen, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon have carried out attacks against United States and Israeli interests.
