...and if you can't trust the state-run news agency who can you believe?...
reports, just as world powers await Tehran’s decision in negotiations over the country’s tattered nuclear deal.
The IRNA report does not identify where or when the launch took place.
However,
man does not live by words alone, despite the fact that sometimes he has to eat them...
it comes as Iran’s top diplomat at the monthslong talks suddenly flew home late Monday for consultations, a sign of the growing pressure on Tehran as the negotiations appear to be nearing their end.
The Guard says the Noor-2 satellite reached a low orbit on the Ghased satellite carrier, IRNA reports.
It describes the Ghased as a three-phase, mixed fuel satellite carrier.
Noor means "light" in Farsi. The Guard launched its first Noor satellite in 2020, revealing to the world it ran its own space program.
| An Nahar adds: |
Iran
...Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979...successfully put its first military satellite into orbit in April 2020, drawing a sharp rebuke from Washington.
Sepah News said Tuesday that the Nour-1 was "still fully operational and transmitting data".
The United States has repeatedly voiced concern that such launches could boost Iran's ballistic missile technology.
But Iran insists it is not seeking nuclear weapons and that its satellite and rocket launches are for civil or defensive purposes only.
At the end of December, Iran announced it had failed to put in orbit "three research cargos" carried by Simorgh (Phoenix) satellite carrier as the rocket was unable to reach the required speed.
In January, Iran tested a solid-fuel rocket for its satellite programme, state media reported.