Satellite Photos: Burning Iran Space Center Launch Pad

This satellite image from Planet Labs Inc., that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, shows a fire at a rocket launch pad at the Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province, Thursday Aug. 29, 2019. (Planet Labs Inc, Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs Inc., that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, shows a fire at a rocket launch pad at the Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province, Thursday Aug. 29, 2019. (Planet Labs Inc, Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)
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Satellite Photos: Burning Iran Space Center Launch Pad

This satellite image from Planet Labs Inc., that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, shows a fire at a rocket launch pad at the Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province, Thursday Aug. 29, 2019. (Planet Labs Inc, Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)
This satellite image from Planet Labs Inc., that has been annotated by experts at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury Institute of International Studies, shows a fire at a rocket launch pad at the Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province, Thursday Aug. 29, 2019. (Planet Labs Inc, Middlebury Institute of International Studies via AP)

Satellite images appear to show the smoldering remains of a rocket at an Iranian space center that was to conduct a US-criticized satellite launch, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

The satellite pictures were taken Thursday morning of the Khomeini Space Center in Iran's Semnan province.

The photos show black smoke and part of a painted launch pad apparently scorched away.

David Schmerler, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, told AP: "Whatever happened there, it blew up and you're looking at the smoldering remains of what used to be there."

NPR first reported on the satellite images.

Iran was to launch the Nahid-1 satellite in the coming days. There had been activity at the space center in recent days.



Israeli Police Arrest Couple Accused of Spying for Iran

A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
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Israeli Police Arrest Couple Accused of Spying for Iran

A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)
A man walks across a bridge, in front of billboards bearing the flags of the US and Israel with a message in support of US presidential candidate Donald Trump, in Tel Aviv on October 30, 2024. (Photo by JACK GUEZ / AFP)

Israeli police said Thursday they have arrested a couple accused of spying on Israeli intelligence sites and collecting information on an Israeli academic on behalf of Iran.

Israeli security services say they have uncovered several Iranian spy networks in recent months. The two archenemies have waged a long-running shadow war that has burst into the open since the outbreak of the war in Gaza. They exchanged fire directly for the first time in April and then again this month.

In a statement released Thursday, the police and the Shin Bet internal security agency said that the man arrested, Rafael Guliev, from the central city of Lod, had surveilled Israel’s Mossad spy headquarters for the Iranians and collected information on an academic working at the Institute for National Security Studies, a prominent Israeli think tank. It did not identify the scholar.

The statement said Guliev was also entrusted with finding an assassin, though the statement did not make clear if he had actually done so.
Guliev’s wife, Lala, assisted in the activities, the statement said.