Report: Iran built new rocket launching site
British Telegraph reports new site designed to test ballistic missiles using solid fuel, based on satellite images published by IHS Jane's Military and Security Assessments
Iran
has built a new rocket launch site which, according to military analysts, is likely to be used for testing ballistic missiles, The Telegraph reported Wednesday.
The report was based on satellite images of the structure, published by IHS Jane's Military and Security Assessments weeks after the Iranian government said it was building new space launch bases for its domestic satellite program.
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According to The Telegraph, the new site is close to Iran’s first space center in the northern Semnan province, and analysts' estimates suggest that it is designed to test ballistic missiles using solid fuel rather than launch space rockets, seeing as the site has no storage for the liquid rocket fuel used in the Iranian space program.
The IHS Jane’s Military and Security Assessments' images show a tall launch tower on a launch pad and an exhaust deflector.
The Telegraph report added that analysts noted that Iran was already building at least one other site for this purpose, and that there was no indication the Shahrud base was a nuclear facility.
Earlier this week, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said Iran was prepared to enter "serious and substantive" negotiations on the nuclear issue.
The solution to the nuclear issue, he stressed, can be reached "solely through talks, not threats," noting he was "seriously determined" not only to resolve the nuclear issue, but also to preserve Iran's rights, among which the "undeniable right" to enrich uranium, and address the other side's concerns.
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