Iran cancels project for sending human into space

Iran's semi-official ILNA news agency is reporting that the country's space organisation is cancelling a project to explore sending humans into space.
Iran sent a monkey into space in January 2013 and it had announced a goal of sending a person by 2018.
But today's report quotes Mohammad Homayoun Sadr, deputy head of the space organisation, as saying the cost was judged to be prohibitive, an estimated USD 15 to USD 20 billion over 15 years.
Iran has long held the goal of developing a space programme, generating unease among the United States and other countries concerned about Tehran's ballistic missile programmes.