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Iran says it has successfully sent a monkey into space for the second time.
President Hassan Rohani’s website announced on December 14 that the monkey was launched into orbit in an Iranian rocket, dubbed Pajohesh (Research), that used liquid fuel for the first time.
It said the monkey, named Fargam (Auspicious), was returned to Earth safely. It did not say when the development took place.
Tehran frequently claims technological breakthroughs that are difficult to verify.
In January, Iran said it had sent a monkey to an altitude of about 120km (75 miles) in a Pishgam rocket for a sub-orbital flight before returning intact to Earth.
But the release of images showing two clearly different monkeys prompted international observers to wonder whether the animal had died in space.
Iran insisted that was not the case, saying archive images of another monkey tested for its suitability for the mission had been wrongly released.
In 2010, Iran successfully sent a rat, turtle and worms into space. But an attempt to send a monkey up in a rocket failed in 2011.
