Iran launches rocket with satellite carrier as nuclear talks to resume

Tehran has launched a solid-fuelled rocket with a satellite carrier, a day after Iran and the European Union agreed to resume stalled talks over Iran's tattered nuclear deal with world powers.

It's unclear when exactly the rocket was launched, but the announcement on state media came on Sunday after satellite photos showed preparations at a desert launch pad. 

Iran had also acknowledged that it planned tests for the satellite-carrying Zuljanah rocket. 

State-run media reported that the rocket launch was successful.

The news comes after the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, travelled to Tehran in a push to resuscitate stalemated negotiations over Iran’s nuclear programme and announced on Saturday that the US and Iran would resume indirect talks in the coming days.

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Criticism

Previous rocket launches have drawn rebukes from the United States, which says that such satellite launches defy a United Nations Security Council resolution calling on Iran to steer clear of any 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.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA quoted Ahmad Hosseini, spokesperson for the Defence Ministry, as saying that the satellite carrier would gather information in low-earth orbit and would be critical to promote Iran’s space industry.

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