Top U.S. Military Officer Worried by Iran Satellite Launch

Date: 06 May 2020 - 21:41

News ID: ۷۸۳۱۹

WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- The United States’ top military officer has said that Iran’s recent military satellite launch, the first for the country, is a concerning feat.
"Different missiles can do different things, one can carry a satellite and one can carry some sort of device that can explode. So, the bottom line is yes, it is a security concern anytime Iran is testing any type of long-range missile,” said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley.
The missile technology, the second and third-order missile technology and the lessons learned from that were a concern, he added.
Iran said last month that it successfully launched the nation’s first military satellite.  The satellite, dubbed Noor, was sent into orbit using a long-range rocket, according to an April 22 statement by the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).
Miley’s remarks came after the Pentagon resorted to its old tactics, trying to play down and denigrate Iran’s major achievement.
President Donald Trump, in a rather rushed statement, said the U.S. was tracking the launch and claimed "we know more about them than the Iranians themselves.”
In the past, U.S. officials have similarly tried to belittle Iran’s military scores, including after safely landing an American Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel drone in December 2011 and shooting down RQ-4A Global Hawk surveillance drone in June 2019 – both among the most advanced aircraft in U.S. inventory.
After days of deliberations and evaluations, Israeli and Western experts concluded that Iran’s satellite launch was in fact a great feat.
"It is indeed an important accomplishment for the Iranian space program in general and its military in particular,” an Israeli security source, who asked not to be named, told Haaretz. "The most significant result is its symbolism, the fact that the launch didn’t fail.”
According to Dr. Uzi Rubin, a research fellow at the Jerusalem Al-Quds Institute for Security and Strategy, the timing of the launch sends a powerful message: "The very act of launching a military satellite in the midst of the coronavirus crisis is a statement of self-confidence and perseverance” by Iran.
By joining the exclusive list of about a dozen countries to have carried out orbital launches, Iran has demonstrated that it is quickly closing its technological gaps, Haaretz said.