Iran launches satellite that is part of a Western-criticized program as regional tensions spike
By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press
JERUSALEM (AP) — Iran says it has launched a satellite into its highest orbit yet, the latest for a program the West fears improves Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The announcement, on state television Saturday, said the launch was part of the space program of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. It comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas, and just days after Iran and Pakistan engaged in tit-for-tat airstrikes. The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a U.N. Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to not to undertake any activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. U.N. sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.