Iran on Thursday "successfully" tested a satellite carrier rocket launch, days after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned against new US sanctions over Iran's ballistic missile program, according to Iranian state television.

It said the launch vehicle, named Simorgh after a bird in Iranian mythology, was capable of propelling a satellite weighing 250 kilograms to an altitude of 500 kilometers above the earth.

The launch marked the official inauguration of the Imam Khomeini Space Center, named after the late founder of the Islamic republic, built for sending satellites into space, the television said.

As part of its space program, Iran has also sent two capsules into space, the first in February 2010 carrying a rat, tortoises and insects, and the other in January 2013 when a monkey was sent into space and returned to the earth safely, according to official media.

(Source: AFP)