Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has successfully put a second military satellite, the Noor 2, into orbit, the semi-official news agency Tasnim said on Tuesday.
The announcement came as talks held in Vienna to revive an agreement restraining Iran's nuclear program have reached a critical stage.
Noor 2 is orbiting at an altitude of 500 kilometres (311 miles). The first military satellite, launched by the Islamic Republic in April 2020, placed the Noor, or "light" in Persian, at an orbit of 425km (265 miles) above the earth’s surface.
Putting a second satellite in space would be a major advance for Iran’s military, raising concerns about the country's nuclear and missile programs.
The U.S. military says the same long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also allow Tehran to launch longer-range weapons, possibly including nuclear warheads.
Tehran denies U.S. assertions that such activity is a cover for ballistic missile development and says it has never pursued the development of nuclear weapons.
"The IRGC successfully placed Iran's second military satellite, Noor 2, into orbit 500 kilometres from earth," Tasnim said.
The three-stage Qased, or "Messenger", carrier launched the Noor 2, from the Shahroud space port, it added. The same type of rockets, which use a combination of liquid and solid fuels, carried the first military satellite.
(Reporting by Dubai newsroom, writing by Maher Chmaytelli, editing by Andrew Heavens and Ed Osmond)
