Iran launches satellite that is part of a Western-criticized program as regional tensions spike

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran says it had conducted a satellite launch into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The announcement, on state television Saturday, said the launch was part of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards’ space program. The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October. The U.S. intelligence community’s 2023 worldwide threat assessment said the development of satellite launch vehicles “shortens the timeline” for Iran to develop an intercontinental ballistic missile.