NCRI - Brig. Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najar, mullahs' defense minister, said, "Iran launched its first domestically made satellite into space" the official news agency IRNA reported on Sunday.

"Omid (hope) satellite was launched on Sunday using the Safir (ambassador) satellite-carrier rocket," IRNA said, quoting a statement from the Iranian regime's defense ministry.

The regime's fledgling space program, like its nuclear program, has provoked unease abroad. The same technology used to put satellites into space can also be used to deliver warheads.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad read out the launch countdown, said a regime's official.

"The president attended Iran's Space Centre and ordered the launch ... He congratulated the Iranian nation on the great achievement," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted government spokesman Gholamhossein Elham as saying.

On February 4, the Iranian regime launched what it said was a rocket designed to carry a locally-made research satellite. The know-how required to make rockets can also be used to produce missiles.

The US, France, and Russia at the time condemned the move.  Washington reacted by saying Tehran's missile-testing was unfortunate.