Iran sent a research satellite into orbit with a rocket built by the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Corps on Saturday, September 14, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. Iran described the launch as a success, which would be the second such launch to put a satellite into orbit with the rocket. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the launch's success, nor did Iranian authorities immediately provide footage or other details.

Iran identified the satellite-carrying rocket as the Qaem-100, which the Guard used in January for another successful launch . Qaem means "upright" in Iran's Farsi language. The solid-fuel rocket put the Chamran-1 satellite, weighing 60 kilograms (132 pounds), into a 550-kilometer (340-mile) orbit, state media reported. It said testing space hardware and software is the main mission of the satellite. IRNA said land stations received signals from the satellite, too.

It said the satellite-carrier rocket was designed and made by the Guard aerospace division. Iran says it has 13 more satellite launches in a row. In January, Iran said it successfully launched three satellites into space with a rocket.

Though Iran has long planned to send satellites into orbit, this is the first launch under reformist President Masoud Pezezhkian after his hardline predecessor Ebrahim Raisi died in a May helicopter crash.

The program is seen by the West as part of the improvement of Tehran’s ballistic missiles. The launch also comes as heightened tensions grip the wider Middle East over Israel’s continued war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip , sparking fears of a regional conflict.

The United States has previously said Iran’s satellite launches defy a UN Security Council resolution and called on Tehran to undertake no activity involving ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. UN sanctions related to Iran’s ballistic missile program expired last October.