Today, Saturday, Iranian official media said that Iran had successfully launched the "Qaem 100" solid-fuel satellite-carrying missile, while Tehran admitted for the first time to send drones to Russia.
"The test of launching a satellite carrier with a solid-fuel engine... has been successfully completed," the official IRNA news agency said.
Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that the "Qaem 100" missile is "the first solid-fuel three-stage satellite carrier, manufactured by scientists of the Aerospace Forces of the Revolutionary Guards."
And it stated that the "Qaem 100" satellite-carrying missile "will be able to put satellites weighing 80 kg in orbit on 500 kilometers from the surface of the Earth."
"After passing this stage, in the near future the Nahid satellite of the Aerospace Organization of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology will be put into orbit by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards using an existing 100 satellite carrier," she added.
Marches for Russia
On the other hand, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said - today, Saturday - that his country delivered Russia a limited number of drones months before the start of the war in Ukraine, and this came after criticism and sanctions from Western powers in response to Tehran's supplying Russia with these planes.
The Iranian minister added that his country "if it is sure that Russia used Iranian drones in the Ukraine war, it will have a reaction on this issue."
"This commotion was made by some Western countries that Iran provided missiles and drones to Russia to help in the war in Ukraine, the part related to the missiles is completely wrong," the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) quoted the foreign minister as saying.
"The part about the drones is correct, we supplied Russia with a few of them months before the Ukraine war," Abdullahian added.
In the past few weeks, Kyiv has reported an uptick in Russian attacks by suicide drones on the country's civilian infrastructure, in particular targeting power plants and dams, using Iranian-made Shahed-136 aircraft, which Russia denies.
"IRNA" quoted Abdullahian as saying that Tehran and Kiev agreed to discuss the allegations of the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine two weeks ago, but the Ukrainians did not attend the agreed meeting.
"We agreed with the Foreign Minister of Ukraine to provide us with documents they have that Russia used Iranian drones in Ukraine," he added, but the Ukrainian delegation withdrew from the planned meeting at the last minute.
And last Thursday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, at a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of Seven countries, showed parts of the wreckage of an Iranian drone that he said had recently struck Kyiv, and added in a tweet, "Iran must stop supplying Russia with weapons used to kill Ukrainians, or it will face pressure and consequences." stricter international standards.