Satellite images obtained by The Associated Press agency and seen by Worthy News showed the likely blast off at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Spaceport outside Tehran, the capital.
Monday’s developments came amid experts’ concerns that Iran could have a nuclear weapon within weeks. As talks continued between Iran and world powers in Vienna, Austria, to prevent this, Germany’s new foreign minister warned that “time is running out for us at this point.”
Satellite footage showed increased activity at the spaceport in the desert plains of Iran’s rural Semnan province, some 240 kilometers (150 miles) southeast of Tehran.
Washington had warned that such satellite launches defy a United Nations Security Council resolution. That resolution called on Iran to undertake no activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons.
Separately, Israel has said it wouldn’t allow Iran to have nuclear capabilities and suggested military actions to prevent this, adding to tensions in an already volatile region.
But there were no indications Monday that Iran would back down. Images monitored by Worthy News showed a support vehicle parked alongside a massive white gantry usually housing a rocket on the launchpad.
That support vehicle appeared in other satellite photos at the site just ahead of a launch.
Also visible was a hydraulic crane with a railed platform, seen before previous launches and likely used to service the rocket, according to sources familiar with the developments.
Other satellite images at the spaceport recently indicated an increase in the number of cars in the area, another sign of heightened activity that typically precedes a launch. A building believed to be the “checkout” facility for a rocket also showed increased activity.
Monday’s actions came after Worthy News published this month excerpts of a report suggesting that Iran could have a nuclear weapon within weeks.
In the report, David Albright – a world-renowned nuclear physicist – concluded that Iran might have four nuclear weapons within a year.
The documentation published with two of his colleagues concluded that Iran has enough weapons-grade uranium “for a single nuclear weapon in as little as three weeks.”
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