Satellite photo suggests Iran missile test

Iran has likely carried out an undeclared missile test at its Imam Khomeini Spaceport, satellite photos analyzed by the Associated Press showed Thursday, underlining Tehran's effort to maintain its weapons program despite the 12-day war with Israel in June.

- By Jon GAMBRELL

AN IMAGE taken from satellite shows scorch marks on a launch pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Iran.

(Planet Labs PBC / Associated Press)

Iran has not formally acknowledged last week's test at a circular pad that has hosted other major launches by the country’s civilian space program. A single lawmaker in Iran’s parliament, however, claimed, without offering evidence, that Tehran tested a possible intercontinental ballistic missile.

The test and the claim raise concerns that Iran may be trying to expand the reach of its missiles as tensions remain high ahead of United Nations sanctions — which are likely to be reimposed this weekend over Tehran's nuclear program — and as it also repairs missile sites that were struck by the Israelis.

“Israel's successes in the 12-day war against Iran’s missile attacks reinforced for Tehran the importance of developing more ballistic missiles and qualitatively better versions of them,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an analyst at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies. The think tank has long been critical of Iran and has been sanctioned by Tehran.

“Consider this part of Tehran's efforts to build back better, and as quickly as possible,” he added.

On Sept. 18, Iranian social media users posted images of the sky over Semnan province, showing what appeared to be a rocket’s contrail at sunset. Iranian officials did not acknowledge what caused the contrail, nor did Iranian state media report on the incident.

Satellite photos taken prior to that by Planet Labs PBC show the circular pad at Imam Khomeini Spaceport — about 145 miles southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran, in Semnan — painted blue ringed with red, white and green lines, the colors of the Iranian flag.