Iran said it had successfully launched a rocket into space, the latest in a program the West says also serves ballistic missile research.
Tehran carried out the launch using its Simorg program, a satellite rocket that has had a string of failed launches, at the Imam Khomeini Cosmodrome in rural Semnan province, the AP reports.
The Simorg carried what Iran described as an "orbital propulsion system" as well as two research systems to an orbit 400 kilometers above Earth.
A system that could change the orbit of a spacecraft would allow Iran to command its satellites, and Tehran has long tested it.
Iran has also increased the payload of the Simorgh to 300 kilograms.
There was no immediate independent confirmation that the launch was successful.
The US military has not yet responded to a request for comment.
The announcement comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel's continued war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
The United States has previously said that Iran's satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and urged Tehran not to undertake any activities that involve the possibility of using nuclear weapons.
UN sanctions related to Iran's ballistic missile program expire in October 2023.
"Iran's work on space-based missiles, including the Simorg, would likely shorten the production timeline for an intercontinental ballistic missile, should it choose to develop one, because the systems use similar technologies," according to a US intelligence community report released in July.
Under President Hassan Rouhani, Iran slowed down its space program for fear of raising tensions with the West.
The late President Ebrahim Raisi, a protégé of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who came to power in 2021, however, accelerated that program.
Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May this year.
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