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Iran's Space Program

(Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security) Dr. Uzi Rubin - Iran's space program is central to the Islamic Republic's quest for regional hegemony and global power. The drafters of the Iran nuclear agreement intentionally obfuscated the language relating to Iran's missile obligations to the point where Iran is basically free to do as it pleases in this regard. Iran aspires to leverage itself from a regional power to a regional hegemon, then to a leader of the Islamic World, and ultimately to a global power on a par with Russia and China. A precondition for achieving global power are the ultimate status symbols: nuclear ICBMs backed by space-based early warning satellites to ensure a credible second-strike capability. The Islamic regime is patiently pursuing the building blocks for such a posture and its space program is one of the more significant blocks. In a 2014 television interview, Gen. Majid Mussavi, deputy commander of the IRGC air and space force, said: "The real mission of (Iran's) space program is technological advancement to circumvent the self-imposed limitation on missile range to 2000 km." In 2009, Iran succeeded in launching a satellite into earth orbit - the ninth nation to do so. There were additional successful launches in 2011, 2012 and 2015, as well as numerous failures. The writer was founding director of the Israel Missile Defense Organization, which managed the Arrow program.
2020-09-24 00:00:00
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