Iran says it has put first dummy satellite in orbit

By Parisa Hafezi

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran said it had put a dummy satellite into orbit on a home-grown rocket for the first time on Sunday -- a move likely to increase Western concerns about its nuclear ambitions.

The long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into space can also be used for launching weapons, although Iran says it has no plans to do so.

"The Safir (Ambassador) satellite carrier was launched today and for the first time we successfully launched a dummy satellite into orbit," Reza Taghizadeh, head of the Iranian Aerospace Organisation, told state television.

Iran, embroiled in a standoff with the West over its nuclear ambitions, caused international concern in February by testing another domestically made rocket as part of its satellite programme, the Explorer 1.

Iran said at the time it needed two more similar launches before putting a domestically made satellite into orbit.

France and Russia both said that test raised the suspicion that Iran was seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

Washington, has accused Iran of aiming to equip missiles with nuclear warheads, called it 'unfortunate'. It cites Iran's missile potential, among others, as the reason why it needs to install an anti-missile defence system in eastern Europe.

Iran already claims to have missiles with a range of 2,000 km, meaning it could hit Israel or U.S. military bases in the Gulf.