Iran Official Acknowledges Rocket Malfunction, Slams Trump For Tweet

Iran finally acknowledged Monday that a rocket explosion took place at its Imam Khomeini Space Center, with a goverment official claiming the cause of explosion was a technical malfunction, the Associated Press reported.

Satellite images made available by Planet Labs Inc. and Maxar Technologies last week indicated that a blast had taken place in the Imam Khomeini Space Centre. The images showed black smoke rising above what appeared to be the charred remains of a rocket and its launch stand.

Government spokesperson Ali Rabiei offered first explanations related to the explosion in the space centre. He blamed technical malfunctions that happened during testing for the explosion of the rocket.

“The explosion happened at the launchpad and no satellite had yet been transferred to the launchpad. It happened at a test site, not at the launch site,” Rabiei told AP.

President Donald Trump had earlier tweeted a detailed photo that showed the site of the failed rocket launch, for which he was heavily criticized by intelligence officials.

The explosion, which marked the third failure involving a rocket at the Iranian centre, coupled with Trump’s tweet, raised suspicions of a possible sabotage. The other two failed launches involved satellites Payam in January and Doosti in February.

Trump however denied any role for the U.S. in Iran’s failed attempts.

“The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One,” Trump wrote in his tweet.

Rabiei too dismissed rumors about the failure being a sabotage attempt and slammed Trump for tweeting about the explosion.

“We don’t understand why the U.S. president tweets and posts satellite pictures with excitement. This is not understandable,” he told the AP.

Iran is currently preparing to launch a communications satellite, Nahid-1, into space.

U.N. Security Council resolutions refrain Iran from undertaking any activities related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering a nuclear payload.

Tehran however has maintained its stand that its satellite and rocket tests do not have a military component.