Iran Turns To Italy To Launch Satellite

NASSER KARIMI

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran announced Tuesday it will use Italy to launch a communications satellite after waiting years for Russia to do the job, the semiofficial Mehr news agency reported.

General Mahdi Farahi, the head of Iran's Aero Space Industries, said the satellite, which Israeli media claims is for espionage purposes, would be launched by the Italians some time in the year after March 2011.

He gave no reason for the switch away from Russia, but in February Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad complained about Moscow's continuing failure in launching the satellite.

"A long time ago our scientists built a communications satellite, but some countries have blocked the launch," he said at the time, in a possible reference to U.S. pressure on Russia.

The satellite, which was built with an Italian company, was first displayed in 2005 and Iran at the time said it would be launched that year by a Russian Cosmos-3 satellite-carrier.

The satellite is designed to travel in low-earth-orbit to assist in data communication over a period of three years, said Farahi.