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Showing posts from February, 2016

Missile Man-teghi takes charge of the Iran Space Agency

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26 Feb, 2016 The Iran Space Agency (سازمان فضایی ایران) has a new man at the top! His name is Manouchehr Manteghi (منوچهر منطقی) and he'll be taking charge of Iran's space programme - the country's occasionally successful efforts to lob satellites, monkeys and space cats into orbit. Manteghi has led a colourful life, to say the least. His past adventures are well worth recounting, because they neatly illustrate the extent to which leadership in Iran's defence and missile industries is basically a revolving door of IRGC cronies. Which is not to say that Manteghi doesn't know what he's doing when it comes to pointy things that fly a long way and then explode. In fact, Manteghi's involvement with missiles goes back as far as literally anyone in the entire Islamic Republic of Iran. Manteghi started his missile career during the 1980s war with Iraq. Diaries available online on former president Akbar Rafsanjani's glorified blog record