Iran Successfully Places Noor 3 Satellite into Orbit

Iranian state media reported that the Iranian Minister of Communications, Isa Zare'pour, stated that the Revolutionary Guard successfully launched the third military satellite into orbit on Wednesday. The media added that the imaging satellite Noor 3 reached an orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers above the Earth's surface and was launched in three phases aboard the satellite carrier Qased, which launched its predecessor Noor 2 in 2022. The U.S. military claims that the same long-range ballistic missile technology used to place the satellites into orbit could enable Tehran to launch long-range weapons, including nuclear warheads. Tehran denies U.S. claims that these activities are a cover for developing ballistic missiles, asserting that it has never sought to develop nuclear weapons.