Iran launched a satellite this morning, however, it failed to reach the orbit in the final stage. Quoting country's Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, State television said, the Payam satellite was successfully launched with the Basir satellite carrier. Mr Jahromi said, the satellite and its carrier had gone through successful testing of its first and second stages. But in the actual launch, the satellite failed to reach the required speed on detachment from the rocket in the third stage. He said, Iran still plans to launch another low Earth orbit satellite, Doosti which mean Friendship in Persian.

President Hassan Rouhani yesterday had said that both Payam and Doosti were intended to gather information on environmental change in Iran.

Meanwhile, the move has been criticised by the United States.