Iran enjoyed rare triumph on Monday — the successful launch of a monkey into space.
The regime proclaimed it as proof that Iranian scientists could match their Western counterparts, evidence that international sanctions were ineffectual, and a stepping stone to a manned flight. Western governments fretted that the rocket technology could be used to carry nuclear warheads.
The problem is that the flight may not actually have taken place.
Before the alleged launch the official Fars news agency and other state-controlled media published several photographs of the monkey – with a distinctive red mole above its right eye and a band of light fur around the side of its head wearing some sort of spacesuit and strapped into the seat that would carry it heavenwards.