{"id":29460,"date":"2019-01-16T22:23:35","date_gmt":"2019-01-16T22:23:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29460"},"modified":"2019-01-16T22:23:35","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T22:23:35","slug":"france-condemns-failed-iran-satellite-launch-urges-halt-to-missile-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=29460","title":{"rendered":"France condemns failed Iran satellite launch, urges halt to missile tests"},"content":{"rendered":"<div itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-io-article-url=\"http:\/\/www.arabnews.com\/node\/1436726\/middle-east\" readability=\"86\">\n<p>\nPARIS, LONDON:\u00a0France on Wednesday condemned a failed Iranian satellite launch that it said used technology applicable to long-range missiles and urged Tehran to stop all ballistic tests which are not in line with UN resolutions.<\/p>\n<p>\nIt was the latest in a string of French comments expressing irritation at Iran\u2019s ongoing ballistic missile program despite attempts over the last two years by France and other European powers to open talks on the subject with Iranian authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe Iranian ballistic program is a source of concern for the international community and France,\u201d Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes von der Muhll said.<\/p>\n<p>\nIran\u2019s bid to send a satellite into orbit failed on Tuesday as the space vehicle, named Payam, did not reach adequate speed in the third stage of the launch.<\/p>\n<p>\nIgnoring US and European warnings to avoid such activity, President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday that the Islamic Republic would be ready for a new satellite launch in a few months. \u201cWe have achieved great success in building satellites and launching them. That means we are on the right track,\u201d Rouhani was quoted as saying by state media.<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cThe remaining problems are minor, will be resolved in a few months, and we will soon be ready for a new launch.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\nIran, which considers its space program a matter of national pride, has said its space-vehicle launches and missile tests are not violations of UN resolutions and would continue.<\/p>\n<p>\nIran has repeatedly denied any intent to develop nuclear weapons and curbed its disputed uranium enrichment program under a 2015 deal with world powers.<\/p>\n<p>\nBut the pact is now at risk after President Donald Trump withdrew the US from it, in part because it did not cover Iran\u2019s ballistic missile program, and reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran.<\/p>\n<p>\n<strong>Western concern<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\nWestern powers are concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit could also be used to launch nuclear warheads.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\u201cWe call on Iran not to proceed with new ballistic missile tests designed to be able to carry nuclear weapons, including space launchers, and urge Iran to respect its obligations under all UN Security Council resolutions,\u201d von der Muhll said.<\/p>\n<p>\nThe US warned Iran this month against undertaking three planned rocket launches that it said would violate a UN Security Council resolution because they use ballistic missile technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PARIS, LONDON:\u00a0France on Wednesday condemned a failed Iranian satellite launch that it said used technology applicable to long-range missiles and urged Tehran to stop all ballistic tests which are not in line with UN resolutions. It was the latest in a string of French comments expressing irritation at Iran\u2019s ongoing ballistic missile program despite attempts&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":29461,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}