Iran's Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani addresses a press conference at the Iranian embassy in Lebanon in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 17, 2020. Iran's Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani said Monday that his country is ready to help Lebanon in all fields amid an absence of support by the international community, local Al Manar TV channel reported. (Photo by Bilal Jawich/Xinhua)

Iran's Revolutionary Guards announced they had successfully launched the country's first military satellite on Wednesday, at a time of fresh tensions with US forces in the Gulf.

The US alleges Iran's satellite program is a cover for its development of missiles, while Iran has previously insisted its aerospace activities comply with its international obligations.

Tensions between the arch foes escalated last week with the US Department of Defense accusing Iranian vessels of harassing its ships in the Gulf.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hailed the surprise satellite launch as a "great success."

"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. The satellite "orbited the earth at 425 kilometers," said the website.

The operation comes more than two months after Iran launched but failed to put into orbit another satellite that it said had no military purpose.

The attempted launch on February 9 of the Zafar came days before the 41st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution.

Long-standing acrimony between Tehran and Washington was exacerbated in 2018 when US President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from a deal that froze Iran's nuclear program, before issuing new demands that Tehran curtail its development of ballistic missiles.

 AFP