A senior Russian diplomat on Wednesday voiced concern about Iran's launch of a rocket, saying it has raised suspicions about its nuclear program, Russian news reports said.
An Iranian research rocket is launched in this image taken from Iranian TV at an unknown launch site in Iran, Monday.
Photo: AP
Russian news agencies quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Losyukov as saying that Monday's launch of an Iranian research rocket has raised questions about the direction of Iran's nuclear program.
The statement appeared to indicate that Moscow, which in the past has been skeptical about Iran's missile capability, increasingly shares Western concerns about Teheran's course.
"It adds to general suspicions of Iran regarding its potential desire to build nuclear weapons," Losyukov was quoted as saying. "Long-range missiles are one of the components of such weapons. That causes concern."
Iran said Monday that the rocket test-fired Monday would be used to launch research satellites into space, but the US State Department said the launch was a "troubling" show of a technology that could be used to fire long-range ballistic missiles.
