Feb 5, 2015

On Jan. 11, a number of conservative media outlets reported that President Hassan Rouhani had closed down a significant part of Iran’s high profile and much publicized space program. However, after Iran’s successful satellite launch on Feb. 3 and Rouhani’s televised statement that the space program will continue, an newspaper affiliated with the administration reported that news of the end of Iran’s space program were politically motivated attacks on the president.

Iran’s space program began in 2004 with parliament’s approval to operate under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology under the leadership of the Supreme Council of Space, which is chaired by the president.

To date, Iran has launched four satellites into space successfully. The program is often praised for being an “indigenous” effort of the Islamic Republic and Iranian officials have pointed to its successes as proof that international sanctions against Iran have not impeded the country's technological and scientific progress.

In 2010, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad moved Iran’s space program from the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology into the office of the presidency.

But on Jan. 9, 2015, Rouhani, very quietly reversed the move. According to Mehr News, the “Iranian Space Agency was returned to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology” and its work will be divided between four other currently existing institutions.