Soviet Sputnik program with the prediction that this advancement will propel Iran's military capability in other areas as well. The military concerns over Iran's space program has been exacerbated over Safir rocket's advanced 2nd stage which Iran has kept secret by not releasing any technical information related to the second stage of the rocket, keeping outside observers guessing over the technicalities. For Radio Free Europe, independent experts interviewed disagreed with assertion made by the U.S. and various European countries. SIPRI's Tytti Erästö stated space launch vehicle program can contribute to missile development yet it isn't a shortcut for development of long range missiles such as intercontinental ballistic missiles, historically the ICBMs were converted to SLVs and never was in history SLV converted to ICBM. IISS Michael Elleman stated that claims made by the U.S. such as Mike Pompeo are grossly exaggerating contribution of SLV program to ICBM program and that it is misguided to suggest that SLV program is cover for nuclear capable ICBMs as claims made are a political statement. ST Analytics Markus Schiller stated that there is no indication that Iran is trying to develop missiles with range longer than 2000 km as Iran has been working on improving accuracy of their existing short and medium range missiles. Sabotage by the U.S. In 2019, the New York Times reported that the U.S. has been sabotaging Iran's space program for years and that it planned to widen its efforts. See also Aerospace Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Anousheh Ansari – First Iranian-American cosmonaut Colonization of Mars Colonization of the Moon Economy of Iran International rankings of Iran in science and technology Iran Aviation Industries Organization List of first orbital launches by country List of government space agencies List of Iranian research centers List of missions to the Moon National spacefaring programs Science and technology in Iran References External links Iranian Space Agency Space Science Iranian Space Agencies (listing) Iran space program Shahab SLV Aerospace Industries Organization Iran in Space Globalsecurity.org Videos Imam Khomeini Space Center – Iran – Nuclear Threat Initiative (2013) Space program of Iran Government agencies of Iran Government agencies established in 2003 2003 establishments in Iran Science and technology in Iran Scientific organisations based in Iran Space agencies