Iran’s Revolutionary Guards announced they had successfully launched the country’s first military satellite on Wednesday, a programme that the US alleges is a cover for its missile development. “The first satellite of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been successfully launched into orbit by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” said the Guards’ Sepahnews website. It said the satellite — dubbed the Nour — had been launched from the Qassed two-stage launcher from the Markazi desert, a vast expanse in Iran’s central plateau.