Iranian Defense Ministry spokesman Muhammad Husseini announced today (Friday) that the missile launched by Tehran into space has failed to reach the required speed and place the three research satellites in orbit around the Earth.
Hussein made the remarks to the state television network in the country.
According to him, the launch was an experimental tool for launching medium and large cargo into space.
"In order to place cargo on Earth's orbit one has to reach a speed of 7,600 meters per second, while we were only able to reach a speed of 7,350 meters per second," a Defense Ministry spokesman admitted, indirectly acknowledging the entire launch failure.
Earlier, France condemned the launch and a statement from the French presidency said the launch was "even more unfortunate given the progress made in the nuclear talks with Iran".
The United States, Britain and Germany have also issued statements in recent days condemning the Iranian move.
The Iranian space program has suffered in recent years from a series of scorching failures in launching space missiles, including the explosion of some of the missiles on the launch pad.
The Revolutionary Guards managed last year to launch a missile into space and apparently also to place several satellites, including spy satellites, in Earth's orbit.
Jeffrey Lewis, a researcher on the Iranian missile program at the James Martin Center at the Middlebury Institute for Policy, said it was an integral part of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi's aspiration in space.
"They are not ready to go for eggs, in Tehran. Raisi's people are interested in creating a new equation with the superpowers," he said.
Iran's missile program is a major point of contention between Tehran and the United States and European powers.
Iran has in the past refused to link its missile program, which could serve as a tool for sending nuclear warheads, to any kind of nuclear deal.
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