Iran Satellite Launch Spurs U.S. Concerns

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would show openness to Iran but urged it to respond in kind.

Iran's launch of its first satellite added new fuel to U.S. suspicions over its nuclear ambitions, but a security official said on Tuesday the move did not by itself alter the strategic balance.

Iran announced the launch a day before world powers discuss strategy over Iran -- one of the top U.S. foreign policy issues in the early days of President Barack Obama's administration.

"Efforts to develop missile delivery capability, efforts that continue on an illicit nuclear program, or threats that Iran makes toward Israel, and its sponsorship of terror are of acute concern to this administration," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

He said the launch did not contribute to Iran becoming a responsible member of the world community, and Obama would use all elements of national power in dealing with Iran.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States would show openness to Iran -- a change from a hard-line isolation policy under former President George W. Bush -- but urged it to respond in kind.

"We are reaching out a hand, but the fist has to unclench," Clinton said at a news briefing with Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband.

A senior U.S. diplomat and representatives of other world powers are to meet in Germany on Wednesday to discuss an international strategy for curbing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Iran said it had launched into orbit for the first time a domestically made Omid (Hope) research and telecommunications satellite. It called the launch a big step coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the U.S.-backed Shah.

Iran's technology may also be used in the development of ballistic missiles, the U.S. Defense Department said. Such missiles could be used to deliver a nuclear weapon over large distances.

The United States suspects Iran of developing nuclear weapons, although Iran has long said its nuclear program is purely for civilian energy purposes.

"This development today is cause for concern not just here in the United States but in Europe, throughout the Middle East and I believe throughout the greater world," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters.

Britain also expressed concern.

A U.S. national security official said the satellite technology deployed in the low-orbit launch "is probably not state-of-the-art," and he said the launch was not a strategic or tactical "game changer."

"But for the Iranians this is an important symbolic step forward," the official said.

The launch did not appear to surprise the United States. Iran has previously tested rockets, sent satellites into space on Russian and Chinese rockets, and discussed its plans to put its own satellite into orbit this year.

Former National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell told reporters before he resigned last month that Iran had a "minimal capability" in missiles. "If they stay on the same vector and if they're successful, because this is a challenge, they'll have capability over the next two or three years."