Tehran - Tehran said the reaction by the United States to Iran's launching of a satellite carrier was not surprising, official news agency IRNA reported Wednesday.

An unnamed US official was quoted Tuesday by the foreign press as saying that Sunday's launch of an Iranian test satellite into space was a failure - contrary to Iranian claims.

"We are not surprised by the US reaction as our scientific achievements have always been denied by the Americans," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Ghashghavi said.

Iran hailed as a huge scientific achievement the launch of the Safir'e Omid rocket into orbit over the weekend, which it said carried a dummy satellite. Tehran also rejected any military purposes behind the launching.

There were also doubts in the West about last month's test-firing of missiles by Iran. Some foreign military experts said photographs of the missiles were falsified. Tehran denied the allegations. (dpa)