Zarif: Possibility of U.S. Sabotage in Launch of Two Iranian Satellites

Iran's Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, stated without providing evidence that the failure of the launch of two Iranian satellites might be due to "sabotage" by the United States. In an interview with NBC, Zarif said that the possibility of U.S. "sabotage" in the launch of these two satellites is "completely possible," but "we still do not know and need to investigate it carefully." According to Zarif, this issue may be related to a campaign reported by The New York Times. Iranian officials announced on January 15 that the rocket carrying the "Payam" satellite was launched into space, but the rocket did not reach sufficient speed, and the satellite ultimately failed to enter Earth's orbit. On February 6, American media reported that satellite images show Iran attempted to send a satellite into space again, although it seems there was no success in this regard. However, in this second case, prior to Zarif's interview, Tehran had refrained from confirming or denying the issue. On Sunday, February 3, Iran's Minister of Communications announced that in a "fire" incident at the Space Research Institute's transportation systems research center, "three researchers" lost their lives. The New York Times reported, citing current and former U.S. officials, that the White House has a secret program to counter the Islamic Republic's missile program. The newspaper had previously reported in June 2012 that delays in Iran's nuclear program were the result of a joint Israeli-American cyberattack, and the "Stuxnet" malware had impacted uranium enrichment processes in Iran. According to this report, "Stuxnet" was first tested at Israel's Dimona nuclear facility and turned it into a "laboratory" for ensuring the malware's functionality for two years. Meanwhile, political analyst Reza Taghizadeh wrote in a note for Radio Farda that the failure of the Payam satellite launch cannot be attributed solely to "technical failure" and "normal failure of a space test" without sufficient evidence and documentation, and other possibilities, including the role of the American deterrent space capacity known as "Left-of-Launch," which has been cited in relation to the failures of North Korean missile tests, should not be dismissed. In October 2016, the Associated Press reported that the ongoing fires in Iran's petrochemical facilities have increased suspicions of hacking into petrochemical systems and software sabotage in Iran. Following an explosion in November 2011 at an ammunition depot of the IRGC in Bidganeh, near the city of Malard, 20 kilometers from Tehran, Hassan Tehrani-Moghaddam, head of the IRGC's self-sufficiency and industrial research organization, and 16 other IRGC members were killed. In this interview, Zarif also stated that the circle that "started the U.S. war against Iraq is seeking to start a war with Iran." He added, "I am not saying the Trump administration, but I am saying that some individuals in the Trump administration are trying to start such a war, which would be like suicide for them." Zarif's remarks come at a time when no U.S. officials have recently spoken about attacking Iran. John Bolton, the U.S. National Security Advisor, previously called for an attack on Iran in a 2015 New York Times article titled "To Stop Iran's Bomb, Bomb Iran." Later, he stated in an interview with Fox News that those remarks were from the past and he was preparing for his new role as National Security Advisor. In recent months, however, warnings about military conflict between Iran and Israel have been raised. In recent months, Israel has targeted Iranian positions in Syria several times, and Hassan Nasrallah, the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, has warned that continued attacks could lead to a major war in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated on Wednesday, February 13, at the beginning of the "Promoting a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East" conference hosted by the U.S. in Warsaw, that he would attend a meeting of 60 foreign ministers and representatives from around the world against Iran to advance this "open meeting between representatives of leading Arab countries and Israel, which has common interests in waging war against Iran." His remarks, which were broadcasted by Israeli media and posted in Hebrew on his Twitter, were later deleted, and the phrase "confronting Iran" was used instead of "war with Iran."