Danon: Iranian satellite is for military, not civilian, purposes

Following Iran’s launch of its “Noor” satellite and continued attempts to transfer advanced weapons across the Middle East, Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, on Friday sent a request to the Security Council to discuss and condemn the Iranian actions.

Danon noted that Iran’s actions violate Security Council Resolution 2231, which was passed as part of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“The involvement of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps – a terrorist organization – in Iran’s space program exposes the true objective behind it, despite the regime’s claims of its ‘peaceful’ nature,” Danon wrote to the council members.

“The Iranian regime continues to transfer advanced weaponry illicitly throughout the region, including the presence of advanced Iranian-manufactured system on Libyan soil,” he added.

According to the Israeli ambassador, “these actions constitute a violation of the arms embargo and a ban on Iranian ballistic activity as determined by the Security Council” and “is additional proof of the Iranian regime’s ambitions for regional influence.”

Danon added that the Iranian regime continues to divert its national resources from dealing with the coronavirus in favor of its terror ambitions, and calls on the Security Council to discuss the violations described in its letter and condemn them.

The US said two weeks ago that it assessed that Iran had successfully launched a military satellite into orbit for the first time.

A year ago, Iran attempted to launch a satellite into space but failed when the satellite failed to reach orbit.

It made a similar attempt this past February but was again unsuccessful.

US officials say that Iran’s satellite launches defy UN Security Council Resolution 2231.

Resolution 2231 enshrined Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States and calls on Iran to refrain for up to eight years from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)