Iran confirms 'explosion' in satellite launcher

Iran on Monday confirmed a recent explosion at its satellite launching site in Semnan province, the media reported.

"The explosion was in the launcher and (at that time) the satellite had not been transferred to the launching site," spokesperson Ali Rabiee told the state IRIB TV.

The problem happened due to "technical failure," he said, adding that such problems were common in different parts of the world in the tests sites.

He ruled out any sabotage act in Iran's space projects, saying that according to the country's experts, the technical failure was only the cause of explosion, Xinhua news agency reported.

No-one was hurt in the accident, he added.

On Friday, US President Donald Trump had tweeted that Washington "was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran". 

"I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One," he had said.

Following that, Iran's Minister of Information and Communications Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi denied reports that Tehran had failed to launch its satellite into orbit. IANS