UH OH

U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Iranian Space Agencies After Space Center Explosion

After a rocket exploded at the Imam Khomeini Space Center last week.

The Treasury Department imposed sanctions against three Iranian space agencies on Tuesday: the Iran Space Agency, Iran Space Research Center, and the Astronautics Research Institute. The Associated Press reported that the sanctions come after a rocket exploded at Iran’s Imam Khomeini Space Center last week during what an Iranian official called a malfunction in the middle of a test. An official told the AP that the sanctions were meant to send a signal to foreign entities to not work with the three institutions, or they may face secondary sanctions from the U.S. The official also said the move was not directly related to last week’s explosion, but a surveillance image of the explosion served as evidence that the Iranian space program is being used to develop missiles. President Trump tweeted the surveillance image and wrote that the U.S. was “not involved” in the “catastrophic accident[.]”