The satellite “did not reach enough speed in the third stage and was not put into orbit,” Mohammad Jahromi, the country’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, told the official IRNA news agency after a ceremony was held for the launch at Imam Khomeini Spaceport early Tuesday.
The minister said Iran would launch another satellite soon.
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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran earlier this month to scrap its planned satellite launch, threatening to increase sanctions on the country.
Pompeo has argued that such space launches violate a UN Security Council resolution passed in support of the 2015 nuclear deal, saying in a statement on January 3 that Iran’s launch vehicles “incorporate technology that is virtually identical to that used in ballistic missiles, including in intercontinental ballistic-missiles (ICBMs).”
