Amid middle east tensions, Iran launches heaviest space payload into orbit Iran said on Friday that it has successfully conducted a space launch with its heaviest payload ever, the latest development in a program the West alleges improves Tehran’s ballistic missile program. The launch of the Simorgh rocket comes as Iran's nuclear program inches towards successfully enriching uranium to weapons-grade levels. Iran maintains its program is peaceful, however government officials in the Islamic Republic have been threatening to potentially develop a nuclear bomb as well as an intercontinental ballistic missile. This would...