Iran to send man into space by 2019

TEHRAN - Iran has plans to launch its first manned mission into the space by 2019, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said.

The president said the project was originally planned to take place in 2035, but it has been preponed in response to the pressure from the US and the West against its nuclear programme, according to Press TV.

“In response to the enemy’s (the United Nations Security Council) resolutions, it was decided that the project be pushed forward by five years,” Ahmadinejad said Friday at the closing ceremony of the National Festival of Iranian Youth.

He also said Iran’s Sanjesh Satellite would be launched from an Iranian launch pad and controlled by an Iranian control station.

June 9, the UN Security Council approved a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear programme

The punitive measures were to force Iran into halting its enrichment activities, which Tehran insists to be peaceful and under the full supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The sanctions came less than a month after Iran issued a joint nuclear declaration with Brazil and Turkey based on which Tehran agreed to swap its low-enriched uranium on Turkish soil with nuclear fuel for its research reactor that produces medical radioisotopes.

The European Union, despite voicing support for more talks on Tehran’s nuclear issue, is set vote on the adoption of tougher sanctions against Iran Monday, which will target the country’s trade, financial, energy and transport sectors.

They also include visa bans and asset freeze, in particular for Iranian banks, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps and the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines.

The new sanctions will be approved in accordance with a June 17 declaration by the European Council, which aims to block oil and gas investment in Iran and curtail the country’s refining and natural gas capacity.