DUBAI: Iran has likely carried out an undeclared missile test at its Imam Khomeini Spaceport, satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press showed Thursday, underlining Tehran&#39;s effort to maintain its weapons program despite the 12-day war with Israel in June. Iran has not formally acknowledged last week&#39;s test at a circular pad that has hosted other major launches by the country&#39;s civilian space program. A single lawmaker in Iran&#39;s parliament, however, claimed, without offering evidence, that Tehran tested a possible intercontinental ballistic missile. The test and the claim raise concerns that Iran may be trying to expand the reach of its missiles as tensions remain high ahead of United Nations sanctions, which are likely to be reimposed this weekend over Tehran&#39;s nuclear program &mdash; as it also repairs missile sites that were struck by the Israelis. &ldquo;Israel&rsquo;s successes in the 12-day war against Iran&rsquo;s missile attacks reinforced for Tehran the importance of developing more ballistic missiles and qualitatively better versions of them,&rdquo; said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The think tank has long been critical of Iran and has been sanctioned by Tehran. &ldquo;Consider this part of Tehran&rsquo;s efforts to build back better, and as quickly as possible,&rdquo; he added. Scorch marks seen on launch padOn Sept. 18, Iranian social media users posted images of the sky over Semnan province, showing what appeared to be a rocket&#39;s contrail at sunset. Iranian officials did not acknowledge what caused the contrail, nor did Iranian state media report on the incident. Satellite photos taken prior to that by Planet Labs PBC show the circular pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport &mdash; about 230 kilometers (145 miles) southeast of Iran&rsquo;s capital, Tehran, in Semnan &mdash; painted blue ringed with red, white and green lines &mdash; the colors of the Iranian flag. But in satellite images since Sept. 18, the pad appeared discolored, though it wasn&#39;t fully clear until a more-detailed Planet image requested by the AP taken this Wednesday. That image shows significant scorch marks, the pattern of which resembled scorching seen at the pad following past launches. When rockets launch, the flames from their engines pour down onto pads. Fabian Hinz, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, who studies missiles, said the scale of the scorching suggested Iran launched a solid-fuel missile, as burning aluminum oxide particles cause such marks. The north-south marks suggest a blast deflector being used as well to channel the flames, he said. Intercontinental ballistic missileIranian parliament member Mohsen Zanganeh, appearing on Iranian state television on Saturday, claimed that the Islamic Republic had launched an intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday. He portrayed it as a sign of Iran&#39;s strength as it faces challenges from Israel and the West. &ldquo;We have neither abandoned (nuclear) enrichment, nor handed uranium over to the enemy, nor backed down from our missile positions,&rdquo; said Zanganeh, a member of parliament&#39;s budget committee from Iran&#39;s Khorasan Razavi province. &ldquo;The night before last we tested one of the country&rsquo;s most advanced missiles, which until now had not, so to speak, been trialed &mdash; and that test was successful,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;In other words,&rdquo; he added. &quot;I mean to say that even under these conditions we are conducting a security test of an intercontinental-range missile.&rdquo; Zanganeh did not elaborate on where he got his information, nor did he provide any evidence to support his assertion. Iranian parliament members have made exaggerated claims in the past. Intercontinental ballistic missiles typically have ranges greater than 5,500 kilometers (3,415 miles). That would extend far beyond the range reportedly allowed by Iran&#39;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, which is 2,000 kilometers (1,240 miles). The range of 2,000 kilometers encompasses much of the Middle East, including Israel and American military bases in the region. An intercontinental missile would at least put all of Europe in rage. The U.S. military&#39;s Central Command, which oversees its Mideast operations, did not respond to a request for comment. Questions over launchDespite the lawmaker&#39;s claims, there are still many questions surrounding the launch &mdash; including just what Iran sent into the sky. Iran has in the past used the pad to launch solid-fueled missiles called Zuljanah, named after a horse of Imam Hussain, a grandson of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and a key figure in the Shiite faith who was massacred with his fighters at Karbala in the 7th century. The Zuljanah can launch satellites in space. However, the fact that it uses solid fuel and is capable of reaching space has raised concerns by the US government that Iran could potentially build an intercontinental ballistic missile. &ldquo;If, as is increasingly being alleged, the test was of a space-launch vehicle, it represents a desire by Tehran to potentially threaten targets outside the Middle East, like the European continent and even the American homeland,&rdquo; Taleblu said.0 Such missiles can deliver nuclear weapons, but Iran long has maintained its nuclear program is peaceful. US intelligence agencies also assess that Iran is not actively pursuing an atomic bomb, though it had been enriching uranium to up to 60% purity &mdash; a short, technical step away from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iran also would need to miniaturize any possible nuclear bomb to put it atop a ballistic missile. With Iran not formally acknowledging the launch and the erratic contrail that was left behind, the likelihood is that the launch may have failed.&nbsp; There&#39;s also no acknowledgment by US space officials of Iran putting any new satellites into space on Sept. 18. Iran may also have used the launch to signal to the West that it will continue its missile program, despite sanctions and pressure &mdash; though without a formal confirmation, it remains unclear just what Tehran was trying to do. &ldquo;The problem is that so much happens with Iran,&rdquo; Hinz said. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard to say what is coincidental and what is a pattern.&rdquo;

Middle East

Associated Press analysis says Iran carried out a secret missile test at its spaceport, raising concerns about growing missile capabilities as Tehran defies Western pressure and prepares for renewed UN sanctions.

Iran likely carried out missile test, claims AP

VIENNA: Iran decided at the last-minute Thursday to withdraw a resolution prohibiting attacks on nuclear facilities that it had put forward along with China, Russia and other countries for a vote before an annual gathering of the UN nuclear watchdog&#39;s member nations.&nbsp;Western diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, said the US has been heavily lobbying behind the scenes to prevent the resolution from being adopted. The US has raised the possibility of reducing funding to the International Atomic Energy Agency if the resolution was adopted and if the body moved to curtail Israel&rsquo;s rights within the agency, the diplomats said.&nbsp;In 1981, the provision of assistance to Israel under the IAEA&rsquo;s technical assistance program was suspended as a result of an Israeli strike on a nuclear reactor in Iraq. At the time, the attack was strongly condemned in resolutions by the UN Security Council, the IAEA General Conference and the IAEA Board of Governors.&nbsp;The resolution withdrawal comes as US allies have started the clock on reimposing UN sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program.&nbsp;Addressing the IAEA&#39;s General Conference late Thursday, Iran&rsquo;s Ambassador to the UN Reza Najafi announced that &ldquo;guided by the spirit of goodwill and constructive engagement, and at the request of several member states,&rdquo; it deferred action on the draft until next year&#39;s conference.&nbsp;Tensions after June attackIsrael targeted Iranian nuclear and military sites in June, saying it could not allow Tehran to develop atomic weapons and that it feared the Islamic Republic was close. The US inserted itself into the war on June 22, striking three Iranian nuclear facilities. Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is peaceful.&nbsp;The text of Iran&rsquo;s draft resolution contained a paragraph that &ldquo;strongly condemned&rdquo; the &ldquo;deliberate and unlawful attacks carried out in June 2025 against nuclear sites and facilities of the Islamic Republic of Iran,&rdquo; adding that it constituted a &ldquo;clear violation of international law.&rdquo;&nbsp;It also &ldquo;reaffirmed&rdquo; that &ldquo;all states must refrain from attacking or threatening to attack peaceful nuclear facilities in other countries.&rdquo;&nbsp;Najafi said the objective by Iran and the other cosponsors of the resolution &mdash; including Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Belarus and Zimbabwe &mdash; &ldquo;has never been to create division among member states,&rdquo; adding that &ldquo;on matters of such importance and sensitivity, it is imperative that the general conference conveys a unified and unambiguous message.&rdquo;&nbsp;He added, &ldquo;We firmly believe that the voice of this body should not be distorted under the weight of the intimidation and political pressure exerted by one of the aggressors.&rdquo;&nbsp;Speaking at the IAEA General Conference earlier this week, the head of Iran&rsquo;s civilian atomic energy organization, Mohammad Eslami, said he expected IAEA member states to &ldquo;take appropriate measures in response to these unlawful attacks on nuclear facilities.&rdquo;&nbsp;He said the &ldquo;recent threats made by the United States in this regard, as well as the exertion of political pressure on countries and the instrumental use of the Agency in various forms, including through influence on its budget, are matters of serious concern.&rdquo;&nbsp;Howard Solomon, the US charge d&rsquo;affaires and acting permanent representative at the US Mission to International Organizations in Vienna, said the draft resolution &ldquo;painted a deeply inaccurate picture of recent events, distorted international law and selectively quoted from the IAEA statute and other documents adopted by the IAEA General Conference and UN, taking them out of context and drawing inaccurate conclusions.&rdquo;&nbsp;Had the resolution been put to a vote, &ldquo;it would have been overwhelmingly defeated,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Solomon said that &ldquo;the grave and growing threat to Israel and the region created by Iran&rsquo;s enrichment program necessitated strong and decisive action directed by President Trump,&rdquo; adding that the US did not &ldquo;take this action lightly.&rdquo;&nbsp;A request for comment has been sent to the US State Department and the US Mission to the International Organizations in Vienna.&nbsp;Looming deadlineThe IAEA General Conference consists of high-ranking representatives of the 180 members states of the UN nuclear watchdog who debate issues of international nuclear policy. It meets annually in Vienna, approves the budget and considers resolutions on nuclear safety and security issues.&nbsp;The meeting came at a sensitive time, with France, Germany and the United Kingdom launching the process to reimpose sanctions on Iran over what they deemed noncompliance with a 2015 agreement aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.&nbsp;The process, termed a &ldquo;snapback&rdquo; by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran&rsquo;s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, was designed to be veto-proof at the UN and could take effect in a month.&nbsp;The move set a 30-day clock for the resumption of sanctions unless the West and Iran reach a diplomatic agreement.&nbsp;European nations have said they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran resumes direct negotiations with the US over its nuclear program, allows UN nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 400 kilograms of highly enriched uranium the UN watchdog says it has.&nbsp;When asked in an interview on Israel&rsquo;s Channel 12 on Thursday whether the snapback was a done deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said: &ldquo;Yes. I think so because the latest news we had from the Iranians is not serious.&rdquo;

Asia

Europe

Western diplomats say the US lobbied hard to block Iran’s resolution, even threatening to cut IAEA funding if it targeted Israel’s rights in the agency.

Articles tagged with "Iran nuclear sites"

Iran likely carried out missile test, claims AP

Iran withdraws resolution banning attacks on nuclear sites following US pressure