Iran test-fires satellite carrier - report

Western nations are concerned that the long-range ballistic technology used to put satellites into orbit can also be used to launch warheads, although Iran says it has no plans to do so.

Al Alam, Iran's Arabic-language television station, did not give additional details, but said only: "Iran has successfully test-fired the Kavoshgar 3 satellite carrier."

State broadcaster IRIB also reported the test.

Other state media earlier said Iran would on Wednesday unveil three new satellites and a satellite carrier.

The media said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would attend a launch ceremony in Tehran, but gave no further details. It coincides with a 10-day period of national events marking the 31st anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution.

Iran's English-language Press TV said Iran would unveil a "booster rocket able to carry satellites." Press TV named it as Simorgh, but it did not mention the Kavoshgar (Explorer) test.

Exactly one year ago, Iran launched a domestically made satellite into orbit for the first time, a step that worried Western powers which fear the Islamic Republic is seeking to build a nuclear bomb and missile delivery systems.

Iran, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, says its nuclear programme is solely to generate electricity. It has said last year's launch of the Omid satellite was for peaceful telecommunications and research purposes.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi, Reza Derakhshi and Hossein Jaseb; Writing by Fredrik Dahl; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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