Possible Military Uses Concern Neighbors, UN

In the face of possible UN sanctions and embargoes over its refusal to shelve its nuclear program, Iran is now buying up all the space hardware it can find... hoping to establish a foothold in space before it loses access to the necessary technology.

"The moment they feel Iran has made a breakthrough, they will impose restrictions more than those they have imposed on Iran's nuclear program," said one space official, Mohammad Reza Movaseghinia, to the Associated Press. "We have to move quickly and achieve our goals in space. Otherwise, we will face political, economic and security threats."

Iran is already one of 43 nations that own hardware into space. Last month, Iran launched its Russian-made Sina-1 satellite aboard a Russian rocket. The nation's second bird is scheduled to go up within two months, this time with help from Italy's Carlo Gavazzi Space.

Together, those two satellites would give Iran the ability to monitor events throughout the Middle East -- although analysts speculate Sina-1 is a relatively poor spy satellite, as its onboard camera cannot detect objects smaller than 150 feet across.

Still, Iran has made little effort to hide its intentions to eventually develop advanced homebuilt satellites, as well as it's goal of building a launch vehicle capable of putting a satellite into orbit without Russian help. Aerospace facilities have sprung up throughout the Islamic nation, and Iranian technicians are training in China, Italy, and Russia.

"We have to build our own satellites, our own launchers. We need to be one of eight top countries mastering space technology," said Ahmad Talebzadeh, the head of the Iranian Space Agency.

The Iranian government asserts it only wants to put satellites into space to monitor natural disasters in parts of the country most prone to earthquakes, as well as improve its telecommunications industry.

Then again, Iran also says it wants to use nuclear technology to generate electricity. Neither of those arguments seem to hold much water in Washington.

FMI: www.isa.ir/en/rs/