Satellite images have shown that Iran has once again failed to launch a satellite into space, a fact confirmed by the U.S. Department of Defense, the Pentagon. U.S. Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Urias Orlando stated, "The United States is aware of the failed launch of the Iranian rocket on June 12." Satellite images and input from U.S. officials and a missile expert confirmed the unsuccessful launch earlier this month at the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan Province, Iran.
This attempt comes at a time when Iran's space program has suffered a series of significant setbacks, while the semi-military Revolutionary Guard manages its parallel program, which successfully launched a satellite into orbit last year. As has been the case with other failed launches, Iranian state media did not acknowledge the event.
Satellite images from Maxar Technologies and Planet Labs showed preparations at Khomeini Port on June 6. These images included what appeared to be fuel tanks alongside a massive white gantry structure containing a rocket, as scientists were fueling and preparing it for launch. Prior to the launch, workers pulled the gantry away to reveal the rocket.
Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, noted that the number of fuel tanks, based on their size in the images, seemed sufficient to fill the first and second stages of the Iranian "Simorgh" rocket. He added that the "Simorgh" is a rocket capable of carrying a satellite and was launched from the same area at the spaceport.
Satellite images on June 17 indicated a decrease in activity at the site, and Lewis stated that analysts believe Iran fired the rocket at some point.
