According to Ukrinform, Al Jazeera reported this.

Iran’s elite military’s aviation division has launched the third version of the Nour imaging satellite into low orbit, two officials confirmed Wednesday.

Nour-3 was reportedly launched into an orbit 450 kilometers from the Earth’s surface and later launched into space by the Qased launch vehicle developed by the IRGC.

The first version of Nour was launched in April 2020, marking Iran’s first successful launch of a military reconnaissance satellite. The second satellite was launched at the beginning of last year.

“Despite Western criticism, Iranian officials have vowed to continue expanding the satellite program and are expected to launch several more satellites into various orbits in the near future,” the report said.

It is stated that Western countries argue that the development of Iranian satellites could violate the UN Security Council resolution, which forms the basis of the nuclear agreement signed between Iran and world powers since 2015, because the technology could potentially be used to produce nuclear weapons.

According to Ukrinform, Iran plans to launch two satellites it developed into orbit with the help of Russia at the end of this year.