Iran plans to send a first indigenous satellite designed to carry out long-term operations into space in the near future, using home-grown technology, President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday.
“A satellite-carrier rocket manufactured by scientists at the Amirkabir University [of Technology] will soon place the Payam satellite into an orbit of 600 km,” he told a public gathering during his visit to Golestan Province, his website reported.
"The satellite will monitor weather, agriculture-related activities, territorial waters and forests, and relay communications on a regular basis."
The president noted that Payam is the first satellite that is supposed to have a long lifespan.
“In the past, we sent several research satellites into space, but when this satellite is launched, it will send information on territorial activities every day,” he said.
Rouhani announced that another satellite will also be launched in the coming weeks, but did not offer details.
Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi said recently that Payam and a second satellite called Doosti had been successfully tested and that there would be “good news” soon, Tasnim News Agency reported.
Iran typically displays its space achievements in February during the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the revolution, which saw the Persian monarchy of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi replaced by the Islamic Republic.
Earlier in January, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Iran’s plans for sending satellites into orbit demonstrate the country’s defiance of a United Nations Security Council resolution that enshrines the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement and calls on Iran to refrain from work for up to eight years on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.
Iran insists the launches do not violate any UN resolution and says its missiles are solely for defense and only capable of delivering conventional, and not nuclear, warheads.
Technological Progress
In his speech, Rouhani said the country’s technological advancements and highly skilled workforce are a source of national pride, adding that the existing potentials should be fully utilized to develop all sectors.
He also stated that US sanctions will not prevent Iranians from moving on the path of progress, pledging that Iran will overcome all problems and challenges, and will foil the enemy’s plots.
“The United States, the Zionists or their lackeys will not be able to bring the great Iranian nation … to their knees,” he said.
The administration US President Donald Trump has reimposed tough sanctions on Iran. The penalties—which grew out of Trump’s decision in May to quit the Iran nuclear accord—take aim at the OPEC producer’s oil, banking, shipping, shipbuilding and insurance sectors, and are intended to force Tehran to abandon its nuclear and missile programs, and alter its regional policies.
Rouhani said the good relationship that Iran has established with many countries, particularly its neighbors and “brotherly and friendly” Persian Gulf Arab states, will help minimize the impact of sanctions.
The Islamic Republic is prepared to address its differences with “one or two” regional countries that do not have amicable relations with Iran, he added.
Although the president did not name any country, his remarks were seen as aimed at Saudi Arabia and the UAE, with which Tehran's relations have soured.
