US sanctions Iran's space program, says it's a cover for work on ballistic missiles

RT
Tue, 03 Sep 2019 21:49 UTC

© Vahid Reza Alaei

Semnan Launch site with Safir SLV loaded with Rasad satellite

Washington has imposed a fresh round of sanctions on Iran's nascent space program, arguing a recent botched Iranian satellite launch is evidence that the country is carrying out secret work on ballistic missiles.

The new penalties forbid American citizens from business dealings with Iranian entities affiliated with the country's space initiative, including the Iran Space Agency itself and two of its research institutes, the Iran Space Research Center and the Astronautics Research Institute.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the new penalties in a statement on Tuesday, describing the Iranian space initiative as a "threat" to the US and saying that "the United States will not allow Iran to use its space launch program as cover to advance its ballistic missile programs."

The decision comes in the wake of Tehran's failed satellite launch last week, which Pompeo claimed only "underscores the urgency of the threat."

A second State Department missive further explained the decision, noting that "Space launch vehicle (SLV) technologies, such as those developed by Iran's space program, are virtually identical and interchangeable with those used in ballistic missiles," although Tehran insists its space program has no military dimension.

An Iranian satellite launch test at the Imam Khomeini Space Center ended in disaster last Thursday when a rocket exploded on the launchpad, which Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei said was caused by a "technical error." The satellite itself was not damaged, however, as it had not been loaded, on what Tehran says was a test launch.

Even US President Donald Trump weighed in, tweeting that the US had no involvement in the explosion, dispelling speculation about American sabotage.

The new American sanctions join a raft of penalties previously imposed on Iran's economy, including crippling energy sanctions intended to reduce the country's oil exports to zero, part of a "maximum pressure campaign" to coerce Tehran into renegotiating elements of a nuclear deal signed with world powers in 2015, which Washington abrogated unilaterally last year.

Iran maintains that it does not seek to develop a nuclear weapon, which Trump has cited time and again as his primary concern.

Comment: More from RFE/RL, 4/9/2019: Zarif dismisses US Space-Agency sanctions

Iran's foreign minister has accused the United States of an overreliance on sanctions and said the latest punitive measures out of Washington targeting his country's space and research sectors are "totally ineffective."

"Americans are addicted to sanctions. These sanctions are totally ineffective," Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted by the semiofficial Tasnim news agency as saying on September 4 in the first public reaction to the U.S. move.

Additional from RT, 4/9/2019: 'Stop imitating Thanos, Trump!' Tehran blasts US for sanctioning space agency

Iran's technology minister has compared US President Donald Trump to an intergalactic comic book supervillain after Washington blacklisted the nation's space exploration program.

"I can't even locate the US in this picture, let alone sanctions on Space! The universe & #BrightFuture belong to everyone, not to a few!" Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted on Tuesday, along with a picture of a nebula.

The official did not clarify in what way, according to him, Trump was 'imitating' the intergalactic Marvel supervillain, who is known for snapping half the population of the universe out of existence. However, the tweet came after the US slapped sanctions on Iran's space agency.