Trump accused of tweeting image from secret intelligence briefing as he says US not involved in Iran satellite launch failure
Donald Trump has tweeted what appears to be a new, high resolution image of the site of a failed Iranian satellite launch, claiming that the United States had nothing to do with the incident.
The image was posted shortly after Mr Trump was scheduled to receive an intelligence briefing, and experts say was likely taken from briefing documents. It has the reflection of what appears to be a flash in the centre, suggesting the image may have been photographed from separate materials.
"The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One," Mr Trump wrote.
The tweet comes a day after Iran minister of information and communications technology denied that the explosion had occurred.
The president's tweet was accompanied by a high resolution photo of the site, with several areas highlighted and labelled. Commercial satellite images had previously been available following the rocket's explosion, showing smoke billowing from the pad that had recently been given a fresh coat of paint. Numerous vehicles had been spotted at the site in preparation for the launch attempt.
Fabian Hinz, a researcher at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California, said he doesn't believe that the image was taken by Mr Trump and posted without consultation from others on the issue.
He said: "It's very clearly an intelligence briefing. They have redacted part" in the upper left corner.
"I don't think it was just Trump going rogue, it looks like it was a little bit more," Mr Hinz said. "It was super unusual, and unlike other presidents, but it probably wasn't a complete rogue operation either."
Mr Trump has accused Iran of using its fledgeling space agency to further its efforts to launch ballistic missiles, which the US president has said is unacceptable. The issue has been of such import to the president that he pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear accord citing, in part, the country's ballistic missile tests.
But, experts say it is unlikely that a space exploration operation would be used to try and develop missile capacity, and that Iran is likely attempting to build out its space programme in an attempt to portray the nation as a leader of technology.
Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told NPR that private images taken by the company Planet — complete with smoke billowing — show that the explosion was likely an accident.
"This looks like the space launch vehicle blew up on the launch pad," Mr Schmerler told that news network. "This failure happened maybe a couple of minute before the image was taken."
Iran has failed to launch satellites on at least two other occasions this year.
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Iran's minister of information and communications technology, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, responded to Mr Trump's tweet, insisting that there was no accident.
He wrote on Twitter: "Many are asking about how our satellite is doing. Apparently there have been reports that the third attempt to launch a satellite has been unsuccessful. Frankly, Nahid 1 is doing well, is in the laboratory, and reporters can come visit."
