Iran successfully launches second military satellite into orbit, as nuclear deal nears completion

Iran has launched its second satellite into space, as world powers continue to await the country’s decision on negotiations over the revival of the 2015 nuclear deal.

According to the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) today, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launched the Noor-2 satellite in the Shahroud Desert in the north-east of the country. Placed on the Ghased satellite carrier, it successfully reached a low orbit of 500km (310 miles) above the Earth’s surface.

The successful launch was conducted almost two years after the IRGC’s first Noor satellite was launched in 2020, in an effort to manifest its own space programme and join other nations in the ability to send military satellites into orbit to gather intelligence and improve space-based capabilities.

It also came after a series of setbacks over the years, in which its ‘Victory’ satellite failed to launch into orbit in 2020 and, more recently, three payloads failed to reach orbit at the end of last year.

OPINION: Vienna and the future of relations between the West and Iran

Upon the successful launch of its first Noor satellite, the head of the US Space Command downplayed it and dismissed it as “a tumbling webcam in space” that would not provide Tehran with vital intelligence.

Dismissal has not been the only response from western nations towards the launches, however, but also that of concern over whether Iran would use those capabilities to also build its ballistic missile programme.

Those concerns come especially at a time when Iran and other world powers are close to agreeing to a revived nuclear deal, which would limit Iran’s nuclear capabilities and guarantee its non-proliferation in return for the lifting of sanctions and other measures.

Such fears were seen over two months ago following Iran’s unsuccessful launch of its rocket, when France condemned Tehran and said that it was violating rules set by the United Nations by conducting the launch.