{"id":1654772,"date":"2022-09-23T08:31:07","date_gmt":"2022-09-23T12:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654772"},"modified":"2022-09-23T08:31:22","modified_gmt":"2022-09-23T12:31:22","slug":"the-sneaky-way-iran-could-build-an-icbm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-sneaky-way-iran-could-build-an-icbm\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sneaky Way Iran Could Build an ICBM"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-sneaky-way-iran-could-build-an-icbm%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1654772&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><\/div>\n<p>Iranian state media outlets <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/breaking-news\/article-717705\">reported<\/a>\u00a0that a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.iranwatch.org\/iranian-entities\/islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps-irgc-aerospace-force\">(IRGC)<\/a>\u00a0Aerospace Force was killed during a \u201cmission\u201d this week, marking the latest incident in a series of mysterious\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/6\/13\/two-irgc-aerospace-employees-martyred-in-iran\">deaths<\/a>\u00a0among IRGC officials in the country. The IRGC Aerospace Force is the strategic arm responsible for air defense in tandem with Iran\u2019s regular military. Although officials within Iran\u2019s national space agency consistently claim their outer space intentions are peaceful, military analysts and industry experts believe otherwise. As tensions between the U.S. and the regime have escalated in recent years, Iran has\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/06\/iran-satellite-lauch-icbm-efforts\/\">prioritized<\/a>\u00a0the growth of its space program in addition to its nuclear and missile capabilities. Since the regime is inching toward its nuclear breakout time, U.S. officials are wary that Iran\u2019s space efforts will evolve to advance its ballistic missile program.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>History of Iran\u2019s space program\u00a0<\/strong>\n<\/p>\n<p>While Iran\u2019s space efforts really skyrocketed in the late 1990\u2019s, the country first dabbled in the outer space area when it created the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.unoosa.org\/oosa\/en\/ourwork\/copuos\/index.html\">ad hoc<\/a>\u00a0Committee for International Cooperation in Space at the United Nations along with over a dozen other nations in 1957. One decade later, Tehran also signed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty \u2013 which the country has yet to ratify. After signing a 1998 agreement with Beijing and Moscow to construct and launch an Earth observation satellite dubbed\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/id\/wbna34061804\">\u201cMesbah,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0the Iranian regime first\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/iranprimer.usip.org\/blog\/2022\/jun\/03\/explainer-irans-space-program\">indicated<\/a>\u00a0its intention to build rockets capable of launching satellites into orbit. Around this time, the regime established a Supreme Space Council tasked with monitoring the country\u2019s space programs. By 2005, the IRGC-affiliated Self-Sufficiency Jihad Organization (SSJO) launched Iran\u2019s satellite and inter-continental missile technology. The Iranian\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-iran-satellite-programme-sb\/timeline-iran-launches-first-own-satellite-idUSTRE5121X720090203\">Sina-1 satellite<\/a>\u00a0was launched from the Plesetsk launch pad in northern Russia as a joint project between the Kremlin and the regime. Over the next decade, Iran would launch domestically-made rockets, dummy satellites, and actual satellites into space.\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dissecting Iran\u2019s dual space programs<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>While Iran\u2019s semi-civilian program run by the Iranian Space Agency (ISA) has genuine scientific and military goals in space, the IRGC\u2019s increasing role in the country\u2019s space-related operations is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.jpost.com\/middle-east\/article-712981\">concerning<\/a>. Iran\u2019s state space program is overseen by the president, who is also the chair of the Supreme Space Council which monitors the Iranian Space Agency. The IRGC\u2019s space program is a whole other venture. Following the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/06\/irgc-iran-what-makes-it-dangerous\/\">IRGC<\/a>\u00a0evolved as a counter, in part, to the state-run military. Similar to the rest of the guard corps, the IRGC aerospace program reports directly to the Ayatollah and not the president. Although the ISA and IRGC space program are separate entities, the two organizations do collaborate at times. As explained by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/warontherocks.com\/2021\/12\/iranian-president-raisis-renewed-emphasis-on-space-is-likely-to-create-new-tensions\/\">War on the Rocks<\/a>, \u201cThese two programs mostly compete, for example in their efforts to develop space launch vehicles, but they also collaborate. Over time, the balance between competition and collaboration has shifted back and forth. The presence of the Aerospace Force commander \u2014 who oversees the Revolutionary Guard\u2019s space efforts \u2014 at the recent meeting of the Supreme Space Council is one sign that the balance may be shifting in the direction of greater collaboration.\u201d\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>The IRGC makes its first (successful) launch<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>For decades, the ISA had been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.csis.org\/blogs\/technology-policy-blog\/irans-space-program-and-wall-between-peaceful-purposes\">responsible<\/a>\u00a0for carrying out every space-launch in Iran. However, in 2020 this changed when the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2020\/04\/22\/iran-launches-noor-its-first-military-satellite.html\">Noor-1<\/a> (\u201clight\u201d) military satellite took to the skies, carried by its own Qased three-stage space launch vehicle (SLV). For the first time, the IRGC carried out a satellite launch. The launch of Noor-1 was also pivotal since it displayed a solid-fuel capability that could make Iran\u2019s ballistic missile designs more advanced and lethal overtime.\n<\/p>\n<p>Last month, Moscow\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/russia-launches-iranian-satellite-into-space-under-shadow-western-concerns-2022-08-09\/\">launched<\/a>\u00a0an Iranian satellite into orbit from Kazakhstan after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei pledged to collaborate. The\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timesofisrael.com\/iran-to-build-3-more-suspected-spy-satellites-as-concern-mounts-over-russia-ties\/\">\u201cKhayyam\u201d<\/a>\u00a0satellite greatly alarms the U.S. considering the dual-use applications the spacecraft provides both rogue states. The satellite\u2019s technology would allow the regime and the Kremlin to monitor its borders and potentially spy on its neighbors. Considering Iran\u2019s escalatory behavior in the region in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/09\/quds-how-dangerous-are-irans-special-forces\/\">recent months<\/a> and the Kremlin\u2019s ongoing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/09\/putins-big-ukraine-gamble-nuclear-threats-and-calling-up-reserves\/\">invasion<\/a> of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/world-europe-60506682\">Ukraine<\/a>, this use is more than probable.<\/p>\n<p>The uptick in Iran\u2019s satellite launches and the regime\u2019s general focus on expanding its ballistic missile arsenal suggest that Tehran is\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.19fortyfive.com\/2022\/09\/irans-missiles-are-a-clear-threat-will-a-new-jcpoa-make-a-difference\/\">aiming<\/a>\u00a0to build a successful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Once Iran obtains ICBM capabilities, it could use these missiles to carry nuclear warheads. Tehran\u2019s elevated efforts in its space program do not bode well for the U.S. or its other adversaries.\n<\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/centerforsecuritypolicy.org\/author\/maya-carlin\/\">Maya\u00a0Carlin<\/a> is a Middle East Defense Editor with 19FortyFive. She is also an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Iranian state media outlets reported\u00a0that a member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps\u2019\u00a0(IRGC)\u00a0Aerospace Force was killed during a \u201cmission\u201d this week, marking the latest incident in a series of mysterious\u00a0deaths\u00a0among<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1894531,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1654772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1654772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1654772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1894531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1654772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1654772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1654772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}