Iran Launches Satellite, Escalating Tensions With U.S.

Iran has worked on a satellite launch for several years before it succeeded with the craft named Omid, which means hope. Under the right conditions, it can be spotted as a bright object in the night sky.

A commercial Web site, Real Time Satellite Tracking, features what it calls a ground track showing the satellite's movements.

The launch date coincided with celebrations of the 30th anniversary year of the overthrow of the shah of Iran. The Iranian government says it plans to have a series of satellites in space by the end of next year.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, facing national elections in a few months, is trying to ignite national pride by showing he can stand up to the international community, even though the United Nations has slapped Iran with embargos for its national nuclear program.

“Dear Iranian nation, your children have placed the first indigenous satellite into orbit,” Ahmadinejad said in a television address.

“With God’s help and the desire for justice and peace,” he said, “the official presence of the Islamic republic was registered in space.”

Small club

	In 1957, the USSR launched the first satellite, called "Sputnik."

"In the face of world opposition and sanctions, Iran has joined a very exclusive club," Geoffrey E. Forden, a missile expert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology told the New York Times.

The USSR was the first country to launch an artificial satellite with Sputnik in 1957. The satellite was only in orbit for 3 weeks but started the Space Race during the Cold War between the United States and the USSR.

In response, the United States launched its first satellite only a few months later in 1958 and created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, as a government agency in charge of space exploration.

Military uses

	The U.S. is worried that Iran will use satellite technology for military purposes.

Iran maintains that Omid was designed for research and telecommunications. "Iran's satellite technology is for purely peaceful purposes and to meet the needs of the country," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said at the African Union Summit in Ethiopia.

But the launch is seen as a warning because the rockets used to get it up in space can be used for weapons.

The U.S. State Department called the event worrisome. "Iran’s development of a space launch vehicle establishes the technical basis from which Iran could develop long-range ballistic missile systems," a spokesman told the Times.

U.S.-Iran relations

	Iranian Pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has made controversial remarks against countries like the U.S. and Israel.

In a now-famous 2002 speech, U.S. President George W. Bush named Iran, alongside Iraq and North Korea, as one of three countries comprising an "Axis of Evil."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, elected to the presidency in 2005, is a conservative hard-liner who has gained international notoriety for his controversial pronouncements, such as calling for an end to the state of Israel.

President Obama's reaction

	President Obama recently spoke to Arab TV about U.S. relations with the Middle East.

After the launch, White House Press Secretary Richard Gibbs said the action "does not convince us that Iran is acting responsibly to advance stability or security in the region,” adding that the Obama administration “will use all elements of our national power to deal with Iran and to help it be a responsible member of the international community.”