Iran insists satellite has no military aim, world powers meet in Germany

"This is a scientific and technical achievement and has no military aims," foreign ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi was quoted by AFP as telling reporters.

 

Iran's launch of the Omid (Hope) satellite carried by the home-built Safir-2 rocket on Monday has set alarm bells ringing among Western powers already at loggerheads with Tehran over its nuclear program.

 

But hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the move signaled Tehran’s technological achievement and was an attempt to break the Western world’s monopoly on science.

 

"We should try to break this scientific monopoly," he said at a seminar on science in Tehran.

 

"Today science and other technologies are monopolized. We should try to get science out of the control of the arrogant and the selfish," he said, adding the satellite launch had raised Iran’s global status a "hundred steps".

 

The West suspects Iran of secretly trying to build an atomic bomb and fears the technology used to launch a space rocket could be diverted into developing long-range ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

 

Iran insists its nuclear program is for peaceful energy purposes and that it has the right to technology already in the hands of many other nations, including archfoe the United States.

 

STRONG WEST REACTION

The West reacted strongly to the satellite launch, which came ahead of a meeting in Germany on Wednesday of senior diplomats from six world powers who are due to discuss the nuclear standoff.

 

But Ghashghavi brushed off the concerns, saying Tehran believed in "respecting international rules about non-militarized space".

 

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs expressed dismay with Iran following overtures by U.S. President Barack Obama, who said last month he was willing to extend the hand of diplomacy to Tehran after 30 years of severed ties.

 

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also warned Iran it faced consequences if it failed to respect demands that it halt its uranium enrichment, the process that makes fuel for nuclear plants but can be diverted to make the core of an atomic bomb.

 

In London, British Foreign Office minister Bill Rammell voiced "serious concerns" over the launch. The technology for launching satellites "is very similar to ballistic (missile) capabilities", said French foreign ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier.

 

SIX NATIONS MEET IN GERMANY
Officials from the nations tackling worries over Iran’s nuclear ambitions were to meet in Germany Wednesday, two days after Tehran launched a satellite into orbit.

 

The meeting of political directors from the foreign ministries of the six countries was being held in Wiesbaden, outside Frankfurt.

 

Germany and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - Britain, China, France, Russia and the U.S. - have offered Iran a package of incentives if it suspends uranium enrichment and enters into talks on its nuclear program.

 

At the same time, the Security Council has imposed sanctions to pressure Iran to comply.

 

None of the nations involved has commented on the specific goals of Wednesday’s meeting, which was scheduled before the satellite launch.