Iran has claimed success in launching its first home-built satellite into orbit, using a rocket which the West believes is part of its long-term ballistic missile programme.
Until official satellite spotters confirm Tehrans claim, made by President Ahmadinejad, the Iranian leader, on state television, the announcement will be treated with a degree of scepticism. The first two attempts at launching an Iranian-built satellite, in February and August last year, failed.
If the Iranian Presidents claim turns out to be true, however, it will provide further proof of Tehrans growing ability to master the technology for developing a long-range ballistic missile.
Despite Mr Ahmadinejads insistence that the satellite mission was purely for peaceful purposes, experts said there was an undeniable link between the rocket launch and Irans military programme.
Duncan Lennox, editor of Janes Strategic Weapons Systems, said: Iran is just following what the United States, Russia and China did in the early stages of their missile programmes, transferring the technology from satellite launches to ballistic missiles.
Iranian news agencies reported that a Safir 2 space rocket launched the Omid (Hope) satellite into orbit, coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the Islamic revolution. With this launch, the Islamic Republic of Iran has officially achieved a presence in space, President Ahmadinejad claimed on state television.
He dismissed as old talk the accusation by the West that Irans space programme had military goals. The satellite, he said, carried a message of peace and brotherhood to the world.
Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Foreign Minister, speaking in Addis Ababa, said the satellite would enable Tehran to receive environmental data. The state news agency, IRNA, said the satellite would take orbital measurements and would circle the Earth 15 times every day.
The announcement comes just a day before senior diplomats from the United Nations Permanent Security Council - Britain, the US, Russia, China and France - as well as Germany, are due to meet near Frankfurt to review Irans continuing uranium-enrichment programme.
The timing of the satellite launch will not be lost on the diplomats of the six countries who have to decide what extra measures might be necessary to try and persuade Iran to stop enriching uranium which the West, and Israel, believes is part of a clandestine ambition to build a nuclear weapon. The ballistic missile programme is seen as being inextricably linked to Tehrans nuclear goal.
The Safir 2 appears to be a version of Irans Shahab 3 ballistic missile which forms the basis of the weapons programme, although Tehran uses a number of different names for its missiles, including Ghadr 1, Ashoura and Sejjil.
The Iranians say they have developed a ballistic missile with a range of 2,000-kilometres, but Mr Lennox said there was no evidence to back this claim. Russia has said that Iran has built a missile with a range of 1,500 kilometres, capable of reaching Israel.
The Safir 2 is a two-stage, possibly three-stage, rocket which uses liquid propulsion. Its 72ft long and weighs more than 26 tonnes. The Shahab 3 is a one-stage liquid-propulsion missile.
Last year, Iran caused concern in the West when it sent a probe called Kavoshgar (Explorer) into space on the back of a rocket which Tehran said was in preparation for a satellite launch. In October 2005, a Russian-made Iranian satellite named Sina 1 was put into orbit by a Russian rocket.
Reza Taghipour, head of the Iranian space agency, said Iran would launch another satellite rocket on March 20.
