According to state media reports, Minister of Communications Issa Zarepour confirmed the “successful” launch of the satellite in a social media post. “I congratulate this success to the people, those working hard in the country’s aerospace sector and experts at the IRGC Aerospace Force,” wrote Zarepour on the domestic social media platform Virasty.
While Iran claims it seeks to expand its aerospace sector in order to employ satellites in a variety of ways, including for management of agriculture lands and research purposes, the US and other Western powers have repeatedly cautioned Iran against launches like that of Nour-3, pointing to the fact that the same technology can be used for ballistic missiles, including ones that could deliver a nuclear warhead.
The launch of Nour-3 comes days after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced that Tehran is in contact with the US to revive the landmark nuclear agreement known as Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), during the course of the 78th United Nations General Assembly.
Under the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear enrichment program in exchange for much-needed relief from crippling sanctions.
However, the deal began unraveling in 2018, when Washington, under former US president Donald Trump’s administration, unilaterally withdrew from the accord and re-imposed biting sanctions on the Islamic republic, who has since then been accused of stepping up its nuclear enrichment efforts.
According to a statement given by IRGC commander Hossein Salami to state television on Wednesday, the new satellite will enable the Guards to "meet their intelligence needs" by providing higher resolution images than its predecessors Nour-1 and Nour-2.
“The production and placing the Iranian Nour-3 satellite into an orbit of 450km from Earth, using Iranian satellite carrier Qased, once again showed that threats and sanctions have no impact on the determination of our young scientists for the progress of the Islamic Iran,” said Raisi in a statement on Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, the US placed new sanctions on entities and individuals based in China, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Iran for assisting the Iranian attack drone program. Washington accuses the program of supplying Russia with weapons it uses against Ukraine.
In early June, Iran unveiled its first hypersonic ballistic missile, Fattah (conqueror in Persian), with a range of up to 1,400 kilometers and the ability to penetrate all anti-missile systems.
The Iranian defense ministry in late May unveiled a new ballistic missile with capabilities to strike targets 2,000 kilometers away and carry warheads weighing 1,500 kilograms. The US State Department said in response that Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles posed a “serious threat” to international security.