Iran stokes US anger with another 'rocket test'!

This picture released by the official website of the Iranian Defense Ministry on Thursday, July 27, 2017, claims to show the launching of Simorgh satellite-carrying rocket in an undisclosed location, Iran.

• Tehran denies it has missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

Iran has successfully tested a rocket that can deliver satellites into orbit, state television reported on Thursday, an event likely to raise tensions with the United States because of its potential use in a ballistic missile.

Washington has said Iran is defying a UN resolution calling on it not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles designed to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Tehran denies it has missiles designed to carry nuclear warheads.

"The Imam Khomeini Space Centre was officially opened with the successful test of the Simorgh (Phoenix) space launch vehicle," state television said. "The Simorgh can place a satellite weighing up to 250kg in an orbit of 500km."State television showed footage of the firing of the rocket, mounted on a launch-pad carrying the pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, and Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The US this month slapped new economic sanctions on Iran over its ballistic missile programme, and said Tehran's "malign activities" in the Middle East had undercut any "positive contributions" from a 2015 accord curbing its nuclear programme. -