TEHRAN: Iran is prepared to help Muslim countries launch satellites, an Iranian official said Monday, a day after Iran declared that it had test-fired a new rocket capable of carrying satellite into orbit.
"I am announcing now that Iran is ready to launch satellites of friendly Islamic countries into space," Reza Taghipour, head of Iran's Aerospace Organization, told state television.
On Sunday, Iranian television showed images of a nighttime rocket launch, and said a satellite had been sent into orbit. Iranian officials later said that only the rocket had been fired.
Iran has made several recent claims of test-firing missiles that Western military analysts have said were inflated.
A Bush administration official, speaking anonymously about security issues, said the launch had failed.
A rocket capable of carrying a satellite to space could also deliver nuclear warheads, and the Iranian announcement added to concerns over whether Iran's nuclear program is for purely peaceful purposes, as Iran maintains.
Minister of Defense Mostafa Mohammad Najar dismissed the concerns of Western nations and said they wanted to prevent Iran from making scientific progress, Fars news agency reported. He said Iran "would soon place its national satellite" into orbit, but he did not specify the time.
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