Iran has constructed a rocket-launching site that could be used for testing ballistic missiles, a report from a military intelligence publication said on Thursday.
Satellite imagery analysed by Jane’s Intelligence Reviews showed extensive construction over the last three years at a site of what Jane’s says is a launch tower and pad, an area to prepare rockets for launch and an administration and support section.
The Islamic Republic has pursued ambitious goals to develop its space programme in recent years. In January this year it demonstrated its missile delivery systems by launching a live monkey into space and returning it safely, officials said.
Western countries are concerned that long-range ballistic technology used to propel Iranian satellites into orbit could be put to delivering nuclear warheads.
Assertions about the site, near the town of Shahrud some 100 km northeast of Tehran, come weeks after Iranian officials said they would inaugurate a new space center to launch satellites.