Israel Concerned About Iranian Test Satellite Launch
18 August 2008
Red Orbit
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Text of report by Israeli public radio station Voice of Israel Network B on 17 August 
Iran announced that before dawn it successfully launched into space a rocket capable of carrying a communications satellite. The name of the rocket is Ambassador of Hope and it weighs 20 kg. The head of Iran's space agency reported this evening that the rocket carried a test satellite and not a real communications satellite, as first reported. However, he said it paved the way for the launch of an Iranian communications satellite into space. Tehran plans to launch four satellites into space by 2010. 
 A defence source in Israel told our correspondent Karmela Menashe that if the Iranians managed to launch a communications satellite into space it would be a significant achievement, a milestone in the history of the Middle East. The source stressed that anybody who can launch satellites into space can launch other things across a distance of thousands of kilometres. 
Yisra'el Beytenu Chairman Avigdor Liberman says the [UN] Security Council's silence after the launch of the Iranian rocket shows that at the end of the day Israel will have to deal with Iran on its own.