The early hours of Washington were on July 27 disturbed by an announcement from Iran that it had successfully test-launched a rocket that can deliver satellites into orbit.

The US State Department quickly reacted by saying the “provocative action” breached UN Security Council resolution 2231 that calls on Iran not to proceed with any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. However, the resolution does not explicitly ban space rocket launches and Iran says the testing of the Simorgh (the name of an Iranian mythological bird with similarities to the Phoenix) space-launch vehicle was purely a scientific endeavour with no links to military programmes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corp (IRNG).

That might not impress Donald Trump who since taking office has angled for the cancellation of the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, which he has described as the “worst deal ever”, claiming it leaves too much scope for Tehran to still pursue the development of an atomic bomb while also making mischief in the Middle East by backing terrorist and militia groups - a criticism rebutted by the Iranians who say they have absolutely no plans to pursue a nuclear weapon and are rather victims of terrorists and militias supported by regional rivals including Saudi Arabia.

The nuclear deal, agreed by Iran and six major powers to curb international sanctions against Tehran in return for a drastic scaling down of its nuclear programme, comes up for recertification by the White House every 90 days. While the EU, for instance, has shown little hesitation in affirming that Iran is respecting the deal, Trump is said to have in mid-July come very close to killing it. He told the Wall Street Journal this week that his administration had been “very nice” to Iran in certifying its compliance so far but that “if it was up to me, I would have had them noncompliant 180 days ago”.

Responding to the Iranian announcement of the launch – which roughly coincided with a move by Congress to present for Trump’s signature legislation toughening up sanctions against Iran, as well as Russia and North Korea – State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said: “We consider this to be a provocative action, and a provocative action that undermines the security, the prosperity of those in the region and around the world as well.”

“We believe that what happened overnight in the early morning hours here in Washington is inconsistent with the Security Council resolutions.”

Iranian state television showed footage of the launching of the rocket, which was mounted on the country’s first fixed launchpad, built at the just-opened National Imam Khomeini Space Center in Semnan, northern Iran. The launchpad was bedecked with pictures of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of the Islamic Republic, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. State TV said the launch vehicle was capable of sending a 250kg satellite to an altitude of 500 km (300 miles).

If American officials can not prove that the rocket test and other activities of Iran do not breach the letter of the nuclear deal, they will attempt to drive home their claim that they at the very least breach its spirit.

However, when it comes to space activities, they are not an entirely new thing for Iran. In 2013, for instance, the Iranians claimed to have successfully fired a monkey into suborbital space and brought it back alive. However, based on a photo inconsistency, conspiracy theorists quickly claimed that that was not the case.

The debate over Iran’s space program in relation to the nuclear deal will continue to examine what potential crossover there could be for its military ballistic missile program.

On July 28, Reuters reported that Scott Kripowicz of the directorate for international affairs at the Pentagon's Missile Defence Agency told a conference in Israel: "Space-launch activities which involve multi-stage systems that further the development of technologies for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) are becoming a more realistic threat.”

Contending that the Simorgh space-launch vehicle could be configured to be an ICBM, he added: "Progress in Iran's space program could shorten the pathway to an ICBM, as space-launch vehicles use similar technologies, with the exception of their payloads."