LONDON: Iran has developed a second rocket-launching facility which will likely be used to test ballistic missiles, a London-based defense analysis group said Thursday.
IHS Jane’s said it had pinpointed the site outside the city of Shahrud, around 350 km east of Tehran, near the Caspian Sea and the Turkmenistan border.
By analyzing satellite imagery, Jane’s said that construction began at the site between May and September 2010 — around the same time as the expansion of Iran’s existing launchpad in Semnan.
Iran’s missile program, along with its space projects, has been a mounting source of concern in the West.
“Satellite imagery analyzed by IHS Jane’s has revealed a previously undisclosed Iranian rocket launching facility near the city of Shahrud in northeastern Iran,” said Matthew Clements, editor at IHS Jane’s Military and Security Assessments Center.
“This is the second known facility in Iran that will have the capacity to launch satellites into space, and plans for a third have been announced,” Clements said.
Iran ‘develops launchpad for ballistic missile tests’
