Iran aims for summer satellite launch: Ahmadinejad

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran expects to send its first domestically made research satellite into space next summer, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday, a week after the country's test launch of a rocket sparked international concern.

"God willing, next summer the first 100 percent Iranian-made satellite will be positioned in orbit," he told a rally in Tehran to mark the 29th anniversary of the Islamic revolution.

Ahmadinejad signaled that the country would carry out two more rocket tests before it launched the satellite.

"Two other explorers should be sent so that the satellite would be ready for launch," he said, referring to the February 4 test of a rocket designed to carry Iran's first locally made satellite.

Both the United States and Russia have expressed concern about last week's rocket launch.

Washington said it was "unfortunate" and that it would only further isolate Tehran from the international community, while Moscow said it raised suspicions about the real nature of Tehran's atomic program.

The technology used to put satellites into space could also be used for launching weapons, but analysts have voiced different opinions about the significance of Iran's test.

The West fears Iran is trying to master nuclear technology so it can build bombs. Iran insists its plans are peaceful.

State media last week said the research satellite, called Omid (Hope), would be launched by March 2009.

Western experts say Iran rarely gives enough details for them to determine the extent of its technological advances, and much Iranian technology consists of modifications of equipment supplied by China, North Korea and others.

Iran has an array of medium-range missiles. It says its longest-range missile can reach 2,000 km (1,250 miles), meaning it could hit Israel and U.S. military bases in the Gulf.

U.S. officials have accused Iran of aiming to equip its missiles with nuclear warheads. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, says its nuclear program is designed only to generate electricity and preserve its oil and gas for export.

(Reporting by Hossein Jaseb and Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Charles Dick)