Iran's industrial satellites worry France and America

The announcement by Iran of its intention to launch two satellites concerned France, which called on Tehran on Friday to immediately stop all activities related to ballistic missiles, considering - such as Washington - that the technology of launching the two satellites similar to those adopted in the manufacture of ballistic missiles.

Iran has asked France not to repeat "irresponsible and blunt" allegations about Tehran's ballistic missile activities.

"The Iranian ballistic missile program is a natural right for the Iranian nation," said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qasimi. "This program is defensive and does not violate the UN Security Council resolution," he said.

Earlier on Friday, France called on Iran to immediately halt all activities related to ballistic missiles, which could carry nuclear weapons, after Tehran said it could launch two satellites in the coming weeks.

France has called on Iran to back down from firing rockets into the Iranian space program, saying it would violate Security Council resolutions.

In a statement Friday, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Loudriane asked Tehran to "immediately suspend all activity related to ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons, including ballistic missile-based launches."

"France recalls that the Iranian ballistic missile program does not comply with Resolution 2231 of 2015 on the UN Security Council," the foreign ministry statement said.

On January 3, Washington issued a similar call in which it considered the launch of the missiles "provocative" and threatened to tighten economic sanctions on Tehran.

Iran's Vice President for Defense, Qassem Taizadeh, announced on November 29 that Iran would launch "three satellites into space in the coming months."

"These satellites were built on the basis of local knowledge and will be deployed at different altitudes," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

According to Washington and Paris, the technology used to launch those satellites is almost similar to those used in the manufacture of ballistic missiles.