New Delhi: Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced that it successfully tested a new satellite-carrying rocket on Saturday. The United States expressed its concerns stating that the same long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used to launch nuclear warheads.
According to news agency Reuters, Tehran has denied any intentions to do so.
"The flight test of this satellite carrier with a solid-fuelled engine ... was successfully completed," Iran news agency IRNA informed.
According to the Reuters report, the Ghaem 100 is Iran's first three-stage launch vehicle and it will be able to place satellites weighing 80 kg in an orbit 500 km from the earth's surface.
Revolutionary Guards' aerospace division developed the Ghaem 100, its chief, Amiraili Hajizadeh said the rocket is made to launch the Nahid satellite for the telecommunications ministry. Saturday's operation tested the first sub-orbital stage of the rocket, Reuters reported.
A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department told Reuters in an email, "Such actions are unhelpful and destabilising."
"The United States remains concerned with Iran's continued development of space launch vehicles (SLVs), which pose a significant proliferation concern," the spokesperson said.
"SLVs incorporate technologies that are virtually identical to, and interchangeable with, those used in ballistic missiles, including longer-range systems."
The official said launches of SLVs "defy United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2231, which calls upon Iran not to undertake any activities related to ballistic missiles 'designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, including launches using such ballistic missile technology'."
Washington "continues to use a variety of non-proliferation tools, including sanctions, to counter the further advancement of Iran's ballistic missile program and its ability to proliferate missiles and related technology to others," the spokesperson added.
Iran has one of the biggest missile programmes in the Middle East, in the past years, it has had several failed satellite launches due to technical glitches. In 2015, Iran was called on to refrain from working with ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons following an agreement with six world powers.
Iran says it has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons and, therefore, the resolution does not apply to its ballistic missiles, which it had described as an important deterrent and retaliatory force.
(With Inputs By Reuters)