TEHRAN - Brigadier General Ramazan Sharif, the spokesman for the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, said on Monday that launch of a military satellite proved that the United States’ sanctions have not been able to impede Iran’s scientific progress.

In a televised interview, he said that the U.S. and Europe have admitted that the sanctions could not prevent Iran from making progress.

Sharif praised scientists and all the people involved in manufacturing and launching the satellite.

On Wednesday, the IRGC fired the Noor-1 aboard Qassed (messenger) satellite carrier during an operation that was staged in Dasht-e Kavir, Iran’s sprawling central desert, which was placed into the orbit 425 kilometers above Earth’s surface.

In a series of tweets on Friday, Chris Murphy, a U.S. senator, said that Iran’s satellite launch proved that the policies adopted by President Donald Trump have strengthened Iran and weakened America in West Asia compared with four years ago.

He described Iran’s action as “more proof that Trump’s Iran policy just strengthens Iran.”

“Today we learned Iran has launched its first military satellite - more proof that Trump's Iran policy just strengthens Iran and causes them to act more aggressively,” the senator wrote.

“In virtually every way, Iran is stronger today in the Middle East [West Asia], and America is weaker than 4 years ago,” he said.

Referring to the Trump-ordered assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani, Murphy remarked that although “Trump told us that the Soleimani killing would deter Iran, attacks on U.S. forces have increased, not decreased, since the Soleimani strike.”

“Trump blew up the nuclear deal and promised to build a new system of international pressure to force the Iranians into a new, better deal,” Murphy said, adding, “Obviously, that failed miserably. Nobody signed up for the new sanctions & Iran restarted their nuclear program. And no new, better deal.”

“Trump's policy of diplomatic withdrawal, unilateral economic sanctions, and blind, non-strategic military escalation has done nothing but play into Iran's hands,” said the senator.

“They are stronger, We are weaker. And the launch of this satellite is just more proof,” he concluded.

On May 8, 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which Iran struck with six countries including the U.S., the UK, France, Russia, China and Germany. 

Under the JCPOA, Iran had agreed to limit parts of its peaceful nuclear program in exchange for the removal of all economic and financial sanctions.

NA/PA