Iran ‘stronger’ in world standing despite US animosities: Analyst

Iran has managed to achieve an even stronger standing in the world despite Washington’s animosities and the hurdles it has created to hamper such progress, an American author and political analyst says.

Daniel Kovalik, an academic at the University of Pittsburgh, made the remarks during a phone interview with Press TV on Sunday when asked about comments by Senator Chris Murphy suggesting that a recent satellite launch by Iran proved that President Donald Trump’s harsh policy has strengthened Tehran and weakened America in the Middle East compared with four years ago.

The Connecticut Democrat referred to the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps’s successful launch of Iran's first military satellite - dubbed Noor-1 (Light-1) - and described it as "more proof that Trump's Iran policy just strengthens Iran."

IRGC's satellite launch proved Iran stronger than before: US Senator

A senior US Senator says Donald Trump

“Iran has gotten stronger in terms of its standing in the world. Trump’s backing out of the nuclear deal was seen by the rest of the world, including many of the US allies in Europe, as wrong, as bad policy,” Kovalik told Press TV, referring to the 2015 deal signed between Iran and six major powers that Trump quit in 2018 and re-imposed all the sanctions removed under the accord.

“I mean it’s very clear that the US has lost standing due to that and lost standing due to its assassination of General Soleimani, lost standing due to the intensification of sanctions during this pandemic and so I think the relative standing of both countries has definitely changed, with Iran’s standing rising, and the US’s lowering as a result of all this,” he added.

On January 3, the US assassinated General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and a group of their companions in Baghdad. The operation was conducted with the authorization of Trump. The Pentagon took responsibility for the assassination.

Assassination of Iran's general proves US leads global terrorism: FM

The Iranian Foreign Ministry says the US assassination of Iran’s top anti-terror commander General Soleimani proved that the US is lading sponsor of terrorism.

“The US, despite all of its missteps over the years, still maintained some moral authority which has been important to its ability to rule, but I think the US has lost a lot of its moral authority in the last four years and I think the path towards Iran is part and parcel of that loss of moral authority,”Kovalik said.

“The ability of Iran to launch the satellite certainly shows that despite all of the sanctions that the US has imposed against their country, despite all of the threats that the US has made, despite all the provocations, Iran is still advancing technologically,” he underlined.

The IRGC successfully placed the Islamic Republic’s first ever military satellite in its designated orbit on April 22, using a rocket which is also the country’s first three-stage launch vehicle to successfully deliver its load.

IRGC shoots Iran's first military satellite into orbit

Iran’s IRGC has, for the first time, launched and successfully placed into orbit a military satellite.

The Noor-1 marks a new chapter in the country’s space program, which relies heavily on technologies that are designed and developed at home.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk