Cross-posted and expanded from the Space Warfare Forum: The top item on Spaceflight Now this morning was a single paragraph about Iran launching a satellite. I expect they’ll expand that as they get more information.
The Reuters story about the launch quotes the Iranian foreign minister saying the satellite was for “purely peaceful purposes,” but what else are they going to say? You think they’re going to say, openly, “Yes, we want to use our new satellite to look at the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea and imagine what it will be like once we have destroyed the nation of Israel”?
Of course they say it’s for peaceful purposes.
Kudos to Reuters for pointing out that “The long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used for launching weapons,” even though “Iran says it has no plans to do so.” Again, what else are they going to say? I just hope our government — and by that, I mean the upper echelons, outside the military — keep their eyes open as they consider the possibilities.
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