Free Republic

Iran is preparing to launch a new long-range rocket into outer space as soon as this weekend, U.S. officials told Fox News. The missile is known as a Simorgh, and officials are watching the missile on the launch pad as it is being fueled at an undisclosed location inside Iran. Officials told Fox they have not seen this specific type of rocket launched in the past. Iran has conducted four previous space launches. Any test of a new ballistic missile would be an apparent violation of a UN resolution forbidding Iran from working on its rocket program.

Iran is building a new rocket launch site a short distance from an existing complex in the north of the country, and seems to be working with North Korea, information group IHS Jane's has said. Construction visible from satellite imagery of the new site, near the city of Semnan east of Tehran, seems to suggest that Tehran has been collaborating with Pyongyang, said the London-based defence intelligence group. Iran unveiled the Simorgh space-launch vehicle (SLV) on February 3, but had not yet publicly revealed the location of the rocket's launch complex, it reported on Friday. But Jane's said it had...