(CNN) — Iran launched a satellite on Tuesday that failed to reach orbit, after the US warned against the launch earlier this month. 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. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Iran earlier this month to scrap its planned satellite launch, threatening to increase sanctions on the country. He issued a statement Tuesday condemning the launch but did not say whether the US plans to levy new sanctions against Iran in response. “We have been clear that we will not stand for Iran’s flagrant disregard for international norms. The United States is working with our allies and partners to counter the entire range of the Islamic Republic’s threats, including its missile program, which threatens Europe and the Middle East,” the statement said. Planet Labs An image taken on January 4 shows a large truck parked at the mobile launch gantry of the Iranian spaceport. 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).” On Tuesday, Pompeo reiterated that assertion, saying the satellite “launch furthers Iran’s ability to eventually build such a weapon.” Analysts have told CNN that the technology does not use ICBMs and Iran has said its satellites are for telecommunications. Pompeo has just ended a whirlwind tour of Arab countries intended to calm fears about the imminent US withdrawal from Syria and rally support for the Trump administration’s hard line against Iran. In a speech in Cairo last week, Pompeo touted the administration’s withdrawal from former US President Barack Obama’s landmark Iran nuclear deal and spoke extensively of the US “campaign to stop Iran’s malevolent influence and actions against this region and the world.” US President Donald Trump has slapped Iran with two rounds of aggressive sanctions this year, spurring a flight of foreign companies from the country and crippling its economy, with spiraling inflation rates and shortages of food and medicines. A Norwegian plane has been stuck in Iran for four weeks after a technical error prompted a unscheduled landing in Shiraz airport en route from Dubai to Olso. Export restrictions have meant the aircraft has not yet received the spare parts needed for it to take off again. CNN’s Zachary Cohen contributed reporting<doc-sep>To improve the performance of our website, show the most relevant news products and targeted advertising, we collect technical impersonal information about you, including through the tools of our partners. You can find a detailed description of how we use your data in our Privacy Policy. For a detailed description of the technologies, please see the Cookie and Automatic Logging Policy. By clicking on the "Accept & Close" button, you provide your explicit consent to the processing of your data to achieve the above goal. You can withdraw your consent using the method specified in the Privacy Policy.<doc-sep>The exact nature of the failure is unclear. Iranian Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi seemed to indicate that the satellite never even reached escape velocity, according to a report from the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency , or IRNA. The Iranian Simorgh space launch vehicle lifted off from the country’s Imam Khomeini Space Center , also known as the Semnan Space Center, on the night of Jan. 14-15, 2019. The rocket was carrying the Payam-e Amirkabir satellite, which Iran officially described as carrying four cameras for scientific earth observation purposes from low earth orbit. Iran has made the rare acknowledgment that an attempt to put a satellite into orbit using a domestically produced space launch vehicle has failed. The launch was already controversial, drawing criticism from the United States, Israel, and others who accuse the Iranians of using their nascent space program as a cover for the development of advanced ballistic missiles . It also comes amid revelations that the White House asked for options for a military response to Iranian-backed militia attacks on American diplomatic facilities in Iraq last year. At that time, Iran said it had plans to put two communications satellites into orbit by March 2018 , the end of the Iranian calendar year. That did not come to pass and may have been related to ongoing issues with the Simorgh design. Iran has successfully launched domestically produced satellites in the past, but using the smaller Safir space launch vehicle . In 2017 , to mark the official rebranding of Semnan as the Imam Khomeini Space Center and the expansion of the facility, Iran launched another Simorgh, possibly carrying Tooloo, an experimental intelligence satellite. That launch failed, as well, reportedly due to a problem with the second stage. So far, the Simorgh launch vehicle has yet to successfully put a satellite into orbit. Iran publicly unveiled the rocket in 2010 and conducted a successful sub-orbital test flight in 2016. It also remains to be seen when Iran might proceed with the launch of a second non-military satellite, Doosti, the mission of which is not immediately apparent. Azari Jahromi said the satellite “waiting to be launched,” according to IRNA . Other interviews with the minister seemed to suggest that Payam had reached outer space, but did not successfully enter a stable orbit. Azari Jahromi did say that whatever the fault was, it occurred with the third stage carrying the satellite. Whatever the exact state of the Simorgh program and Iran’s space program as a whole are, the official admission that the latest launch failed is notable for a country that routinely exaggerates its technical achievements. Iranian authorities did not publicly announce the failure of the 2017 launch themselves, though it was widely reported in the international press. Open discussion of space launch activities could be a sign of the Iranian government’s growing confidence in its space capabilities, despite the failures. Historically, it is hardly uncommon for national space programs to suffer major setbacks. Any failure still provides useful information for future developments, too. The public announcement of the space launch plans and the outcome of the launch also point to a desire to legitimize the program in the face of criticism from many of Iran’s chief international opponents, including the United States and Israel. The U.S. government, in particular, had lambasted the Iranian government about its launch plans and warned them not to go through with it at all. “The United States will not stand by and watch the Iranian regime’s destructive policies place international stability and security at risk,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement on Jan. 3, 2019. “We advise the regime to reconsider these provocative launches and cease all activities related to ballistic missiles in order to avoid deeper economic and diplomatic isolation.” AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi Iran's Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missile. The United States contends that the Iranian space program is simply a way to support development of weapons such as this or even longer-range designs. The crux of the U.S. government’s argument is that launch vehicles, such as Simorgh, are analogous to long-range ballistic missiles and that the Iranian space program is simply a cover for their development. In turn, these space launches are then in violation of various U.N. Security Council Resolutions that demand Iran cease development of ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons. Other American allies, particularly Israel, share this opinion. The United Kingdom, France, and Germany, all condemned the 2017 launch, but have not been as vocal about this latest Simorgh flight. The United States, United Kingdom, France, and Germany, along with China and Russia, had been parties to the controversial deal over Iran’s nuclear program, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which they all signed in 2015. President Donald Trump pulled out of that arrangement in May 2018. Not surprisingly, Iran rejected Pompeo's warning and the country does not believe that either its space program or its ballistic missile developments violate any U.N. Security Council Resolutions, which specifically talk about work on systems that could potentially carry nuclear weapons. The Iranian government says that since it is not actively working on nuclear weapons, none of its missiles can be understood to be potentially nuclear capable. IRNA A Simorgh space launch vehicle blasts off from Semnan in 2017. The building the background is adorned with pictures of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Iran's present Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei Information the Israeli government recently obtained on Iran's nuclear program has offered greater detail about activities prior to 2003, but has offered no evidence that Iran has had an active program working to build an actual nuclear weapon since then. However, the country did continue enriching uranium, ostensibly for civilian purposes, afterward, which Iran scaled back after agreeing to the JCPOA. Iranian officials have threatened to resume enriching uranium to higher levels of purity, which could point to a rebooted weapons program, in response to recent American sanctions. Regardless, the Simorgh launch is likely to further inflame tensions between the United States and Iran, have been steadily growing since the U.S. government left the JCPOA. In November 2018, the Trump Administration reimposed all of the sanctions that it had previously relaxed under the Iran deal. Since then, the United States has been pressuring its allies and partners to further isolate the regime in Tehran, which continues to support terrorists and militants around the world and commit human rights abuses at home, among other things. The results have been decidedly mixed and the remaining parties to the JCPOA have been working to try and keep that deal alive despite opposition from the U.S. government. In addition, countering Iranian influence steadily became a core part of the U.S. military’s mission in Syria and has been at the center of America’s continued support for the controversial Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. On the Iranian side, in 2018, officials in Tehran made numerous threats to close off the strategic Strait of Hormuz leading into the Persian Gulf and enabled Yemen’s Houthi rebels to launch attacks on commercial shipping and warships in the Mandeb Strait separating the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden. DOD An infographic the U.S. military released in 2018 showing coordinates found on the navigation computer on the captured Houthi explosive-laden drone boat, indicating that it likely came, at least in part, from Iran. More seriously, a recent report from the Wall Street Journal also said that the White House had asked the Pentagon to provide options for a military response following rocket and mortar attacks on the U.S. consulted in the Iraqi city of Basra and the American Embassy in the capital Baghdad during widespread protests in September 2018. After those incidents, the United States temporarily relocated diplomatic staff elsewhere. Secretary of State Pompeo publicly blamed Iranian-backed militias and Iran’s Quds Force for the attacks. It remains unclear how directly Iran might have been involved. The Quds Force, part of the powerful quasi-military Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is responsible for training and advising militant groups overseas and publicly supported the development of Shia militias in Iraq, ostensibly to fight ISIS terrorists.<doc-sep>
Iran conducted a satellite launch that failed on Tuesday, even after the U.S. warned against it proceeding. Iran’s telecoms minister said the rocket carrying the satellite did not reach “adequate speed” in the launch’s third stage for the rocket to be placed into orbit. ADVERTISEMENT “I would have liked to make everybody happy with good news but sometimes life doesn’t go forward the way we anticipate,” Telecoms Minister Mohammad Javad Azari-Jahromi wrote on Twitter, according to a translation by Reuters. Tuesday’s launch comes after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Mike PompeoThe Memo: Media face hard questions on Trump, Wuhan lab Trump on Wuhan lab: Now everyone agrees 'I was right' With denuclearization stalled, Biden should focus on human rights reform in North Korea MORE earlier this month warned Iran against three planned space launches. The launches would violate a United Nations Security Resolution by incorporating ballistic missile technology, Pompeo said. “The United States will not stand by and watch the Iranian regime’s destructive policies place international stability and security at risk,” Pompeo said in a Jan. 3 statement. “We advise the regime to reconsider these provocative launches and cease all activities related to ballistic missiles in order to avoid deeper economic and diplomatic isolation.” The Security Council resolution in question says Iran “is called upon” not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles, but does not explicitly ban the activity. The resolution was passed in July 2015 to endorse the Iran nuclear deal. In May, President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE withdrew the United States from the nuclear deal. On Tuesday, Pompeo said the satellite launch "furthers Iran’s ability to eventually build" an intercontinental ballistic missile. "We have been clear that we will not stand for Iran’s flagrant disregard for international norms," Pompeo said in a statement. "The United States is working with our allies and partners to counter the entire range of the Islamic Republic’s threats, including its missile program, which threatens Europe and the Middle East." Iran denies that its space program is a cover for weapons development, holding that the program is peaceful. Tuesday’s satellite was mounted with four cameras and was intended for imaging and communications purposes, according to the telecoms ministry. The satellite was named Payam, which is Farsi for “message.” Another satellite is awaiting a launch, the ministry said. That satellite is named Doosti, which is Farsi for “friendship.” Iran typically displays space achievements in February, around the time of the anniversary of its 1979 Islamic Revolution. For the 30th anniversary of the revolution in 2009, Iran launched its first domestically built satellite, called Omid or “hope.” Updated at 6:13 p.m.