A senior administration official said that the United States believes that the launch of an Iranian military satellite this week was conducted under the supervision of a high-ranking commander involved in previous attacks on American targets.
The official, who asked not to be named, added that an evaluation of the launch concluded that it had been conducted under the supervision of the commander of the Air Force-Space Command of the Revolutionary Guard, Amir Ali Haji Zadeh, in the eastern Iranian site.
The official added that Haji Zadeh was behind the shooting down of a US military airliner in the Gulf during last June, a missile attack on American soldiers inside Iraq last January, and the downing of a Ukrainian Airlines plane near Tehran in the same month.
No American soldier was killed in the attacks in Iraq, but more than 100 people were later diagnosed with brain injuries.
Iranian state television reported that the Revolutionary Guards launched the country's first military satellite last Tuesday, and said that the moon - called "Nur 1" - had reached its orbit.
The American official said that the launch of the Iranian satellite is not consistent with civilian uses, adding that the launch was carried out from a fast-moving mobile launch system, which is not consistent with any civilian use, stressing that it was a space launch by the Iranian army for military purposes.