Tehran, Dec 31 (IANS): Iran announced the successful launch of a domestically-built satellite carrier rocket into space, carrying research devices.

Defence Ministry spokesman Seyyed Ahmad Hosseini was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying that the mission's intended research objectives were met, without specifying when the rocket, dubbed as Simorgh (Phoenix), was launched or what devices it carried, reports Xinhua news agency.

The space centre that launched the rocket worked flawlessly, he said, adding the stages of the satellite carrier's launch proceeded as planned.

For the first time, three research devices were launched simultaneously to an altitude of 470 km at a speed of 7,350 metres per second during the mission, Hosseini said.

The liquid fuelled Simorgh rocket was first successfully launched from the Imam Khomeini Space Center in 2017.

The UShas long suspected that Iran's satellite launch vehicles are part of a larger attempt to develop ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear heads.

Iran, which has repeatedly said that its nuclear program is peaceful, insists that its launch of rockets and satellites has no military purpose.

The launch followed the resumpation of the Iranian nuclear deal talks, which entered the eighth round on Monday, to resurrect a 2015 nuclear pact, which the US withdrew from in 2018.

Iran and the parties to the 2015 deal have been holding talks in the Austrian capital of Vienna since April this year, but have failed so far to break the impasse.