Iran’s top presidential aide vows more good news

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s top aide has declared that further good news on Iran’s scientific progress will be soon shared with the nation.

“After [the announcement of] news about the great accomplishments made by the Iranian youth and experts in the fields of modern nuclear technologies, laser sciences and stem cells, we will have more good news for the Iranian nation soon,” Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei, the president’s senior aide and chief of staff, said in Qatar on Sunday.

He said the Iranian nation has endured and resisted against various threats throughout the past 31 years, the Iranian Labor News Agency reported. “Military threats, attacks and other schemes will never stop the great Iranian nation from its resistance.”

On the occasion of the 31st anniversary of the victory of the Islamic Revolution in February, Iran test-fired the Kavoshgar 3 (Explorer 3) satellite carrier, sending its third explorer — with living organisms onboard — into space.

The Kavoshgar 3 rocket, carrying an experimental capsule, transfers telemetric data, live pictures and flight and environmental analytical data.

President Ahmadinejad’s government has also unveiled three new domestically built satellites called Tolou (Sunrise), Mesbah 2 (Lantern), and Navid (Promising Sign) in addition to a new satellite carrier engine dubbed Simorgh 3.

The developments came after Iran on Tuesday announced that it had started enriching uranium to a level of 20 percent, after potential foreign suppliers failed to provide the required fuel for Tehran’s research reactor, which produces medical isotopes for cancer patients.

On Thursday, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran had produced the first stock of 20-percent-enriched uranium at the Natanz enrichment facility.