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By APD writer Muhammad Sohail
Iran has admitted for the first time that a rocket at its Imam Khomeini Space Center exploded due to a technical malfunction during a test caused the explosion.
The government spokesperson Ali Rabiei offered the explanation for Thursday's explosion showed in satellite photos. The blast came ahead of a planned satellite launch by the Islamic Republic that the U.S. has criticized.
Rabiei said "this has been a technical matter and a technical error. Our experts unanimously say so. The explosion happened at the launchpad and no satellite had yet been transferred to the Launchpad. It happened at a test site, not at the launch site."
Commercially available satellite images by Planet Labs Inc. and Maxar Technologies showed a black plume of smoke rising above a launch pad Thursday. In previous days, satellite images had shown officials there repainted the launching pad blue.
Rabiei also criticized U.S. President Trump for tweeting a surveillance photo of the aftermath of the explosion shot by some spy satellite.
Trump tweeted out this image along with the text, "The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One."
"We don't understand why the U.S president tweets and posts satellite pictures with excitement. This is not understandable. Maybe this is because lack of Iran-related subjects that they raise such issues,” said the spokesperson.
The image showed damaged vehicles around the damaged launch pad. The recent blast followed two failed satellite launches from Iran in January and February this year.
(ASIA PACIFIC DAILY)
