DM: Iran to Give Crushing Response to Enemies' Space Threats

Rasa - Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami underscored that his country will firmly stand and given crushing response to enemies' threats from space.

News ID: 441532

Date: 14 November 2018 - 13:23

RNA - "Today, Iran has ascended to high degrees of active deterrence in the fields of aerospace, ground combat, sea combat, communications and radar systems and has turned into one of the world powers in this area," General Hatami said on Tuesday.

He added that Iran has broken the monopoly of enemies over space, noting that the country has grown so powerful that it could reciprocate any possible threat by enemy states from the space with such a response that would make them regret their deeds".

The militarization of space is the placement and development of weaponry and military technology in outer space. The early exploration of space in the mid-20th century had, in part, a military motivation, as the United States and the Soviet Union used it as an opportunity to demonstrate ballistic missile technology and other technologies having the potential for military application.

Outer space has since been used as an operating location for military spacecraft such as imaging and communications satellites, and some ballistic missiles pass through outer space during their flight. As yet, however, weapons are not known to have been stationed in space.

According to Fars News Agancy, Iranian Ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other world bodies headquartered in Vienna Kazzem Qaribabadi underlined in August his country's opposition to arms race and militarization of space.

"Space should only be used for discovery and peaceful uses by the UN members, and the Islamic Republic of Iran seriously and principally is opposed to any arms race in the space or deployment of any weapons, including conventional arms or Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), in space or militarization of space," Qaribabadi said in a meeting with Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Simonetta Di Pippo in Vienna.

He underscored the importance of international cooperation to use the space peacefully, and said, "Small satellites play a highly important role in the process of economic and social development of the developing countries."

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is against any restrictions on designing, building, launching and using small satellites," Qaribabadi added.

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