TEHRAN, Iran: Iran has reported the successful launch into orbit of a domestically manufactured satellite carrier rocket carrying scientific instruments.

According to Xinhua news, Defense Ministry spokesman Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini said that the mission's intended research objectives were met, without detailing when the rocket, called Simorgh (Phoenix), was launched or what items it carried.

He stated the space centre that launched the rocket performed properly, and that the stages of the satellite carrier's launch went off without a hitch. During the mission, three research devices were launched at the same time to an altitude of 470 km at a speed of 7,350 metres per second for the first time, according to Hosseini.

In 2017, the Imam Khomeini Space Center successfully launched the liquid-fueled Simorgh rocket for the first time. The United States has long feared that Iran's satellite launch vehicles are part of a bigger effort to construct nuclear-capable ballistic missiles.

Iran, which has insisted on the benign nature of its nuclear programme, claims that the launch of rockets and satellites has no military purpose.

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