This Jan. 26, 2020, satellite image from Planet Labs Inc. shows preparations at a rocket launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center in Iran’s Semnan province.
Iranian officials and satellite images suggest the Islamic Republic is preparing to a launch a satellite into space after three major failures last year.
The photos also show more cars and activity at a facility at the spaceport, some 230 kilometers southeast of Iran’s capital, Tehran.
Such activity in the past has signaled a launch looms.
Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, Iran’s information and communications technology minister responded to a tweet late Monday night acknowledging that Iran planned to launch a satellite system called the Zafar.
An earlier report by Iran’s state-run IRNA news agency quoted Jahromi as saying Tehran planned to launch six satellites into orbit this year, including the Zafar 1 and 2.
Over the past decade, Iran has sent several short-lived satellites into orbit and in 2013 launched a monkey into space.
Iran, which long has said it does not seek nuclear weapons, maintains its satellite launches and rocket tests do not have a military component.
Tehran also says it hasn’t violated the U.N. resolution as it only “called upon” Tehran not to conduct such tests.
The launch comes amid heightened tensions between Iran and the U.S. since Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers in May 2018.
Iran since has begun breaking terms of the deal limiting its enrichment of uranium.
