An Iranian official published an image on August 30 of a satellite after an apparent rocket explosion at the space center meant to launch it, tweeting at President Donald Trump after the American leader shared online what appeared to be a surveillance photo of the aftermath. The tweet from Iran’s Information and Communications Technology Minister, Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, including a selfie of him in front of the Nahid-1, comes as Tehran has yet to acknowledge the explosion at the Imam Khomeini Space Center on August 29. While specifics about the incident remain unclear, it marked the third failure involving a launch at the center, which has raised suspicions of sabotage in Iran’s space program. 

Trump denies U.S. Involvement

The U.S. has criticized the initiative as a way for Tehran to advance its ballistic missiles. President Trump directly acknowledged those suspicions in his tweet on August 30 and denied any U.S. Involvement.

Jahromi, a rising politician in Iran’s Shiite theocracy, responded to Trump in his tweet early Saturday.

Later, Jahromi accompanied local journalists at the Tehran-based space research center, showing them the satellite.

“I have no idea about the Semnan space center and the defense minister, who is in charge, should make a comment on this,” Jahromi said, according to the state-run IRNA news agency. He did not elaborate.

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Images from the Semnan launching center

The Semnan launching center is in a province neighboring the capital city, Tehran. Commercially available satellite images by Planet Labs Inc. and Maxar Technologies showed a black plume of smoke rising above a launch pad on Thursday, with what appeared to be the charred remains of a rocket and its launch stand. In previous days, satellite images had shown officials there repainted the launchpad blue. The photo released on Friday by Trump appeared to be a once-classified surveillance photo from American intelligence agencies. Analysts said the black rectangle in the photo’s upper-left-hand corner likely covered up the photo’s classification. Trump as president can declassify material. The image showed damaged vehicles around the launch pad, as well as damage is done to the rocket’s launcher. It also clearly showed a large phrase written in Farsi on the pad: “National Product, National Power.”

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Iran's unsuccessful launches

Jahromi told The Associated Press in July that Tehran planned three satellite launches this year, two for satellites that do remote-sensing work and another that handles communications. The Nahid-1 is reportedly the telecommunication satellite. Nahid in Farsi means “Venus.” The satellite, which had Iran’s first foldable solar panels, was supposed to be in a low orbit around the Earth for some two-and-a-half months. The semi-official Mehr news agency quoted Jahromi on August 13 as saying that the Nahid-1 was ready to be delivered to Iran’s Defense Ministry, signaling a launch date for the satellite likely loomed. Iran’s National Week of Government, during which Tehran often inaugurates new projects, began August 24. The apparently failed rocket launch comes after two failed satellite launches of the Payam and Doosti in January and February. A separate fire at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in February also killed three researchers, authorities said at the time. Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.

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Tensions between the U.S. and Iran 

The U.S. alleges such satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution calling on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component. Tehran also says it hasn’t violated the U.N. resolution as it only “called upon” Tehran not to conduct such tests. The tests have taken on new importance to the U.S. amid the maximalist approach to Iran taken by President Donald Trump’s administration. Tensions have been high between the countries since Trump unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from Iran’s nuclear deal over a year ago and imposed sanctions, including on Iran’s oil industry. Iran recently has begun to break the accord itself while trying to push Europe to help it sell oil abroad.

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