Iran: Aerospace programme and Arab and western concernsnote

Iran launched early this month its first homemade satellite into orbit. The satellite is named Omid or Hope, and was put into orbit by another homemade space-launch vehicle named Safir-2. The event caused concerns as in the West as in the Arab world, but Iran keeps stressing that the Omid satellite is for peaceful purposes. The following 465-word report included in Tactical Weekly of February 6, 2009 focuses on the issue and tells how the Iranians are assessing the Arab and western concerns about their aerospace programme.