Iran reportedly launches satellite into orbit

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said Wednesday that it launched the Islamic Republic’s first military satellite into orbit.

The unconfirmed launch is believed to be part of Iran’s secret space program and comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran, which in recent days has reportedly harassed American vessels in the Persian Gulf.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps commander, Maj. Gen. Hosseim Salami, said the launch was a boost to Iranian intelligence gathering, according to the Tasnim News Agency, in Tehran.

“Today, we can observe the world from the space, which means the expansion of the strategic data of the IRGC’s mighty defense power,” Salami reportedly said.

"This is big," said Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation studies in Monterey, California, writing on Twitter. "Big question now is what tech the first stage used. Solid propellant? Liquid using old Shabab 3 tech? Liquid using more sophisticated motors/fuels? This is key to establishing how worrisome the launch is from a security perspective." 

President Trump on Wednesday warned Iran about its recent actions in the gulf. 

The U.S. and Iran have become increasingly at odds since President Trump took office in 2017 and got the country out of the Obama-era, multi-nation deal in which the rogue nation agreed to wind down its nuclear program, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions. 

Trump’s decision set off a months-long series of escalating attacks that culminated in a U.S. drone strike in January that killed a top Iranian general in Iraq, followed by Tehran launching ballistic missiles at American soldiers in Iraq, according to the Associated Press.