(JNS) Iran launched a satellite-carrying rocket into space this week amid fears from Israel and the United States.

However, although the rocket carrying the Payam satellite successfully passed its first and second phases, it did not reach “necessary speed” in the third stage of its release, Iranian Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi told state television.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced earlier this month that the regime would be launching two satellites into space “using our domestically made rockets” within the coming weeks.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned weeks ago about the Islamic Republic activating space-launch vehicles, which officials and experts contend is a cover for the regime’s ballistic-missile ambitions.

Pompeo said that such a launch would violate U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231, which adopted the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “It calls upon the Iranian regime not to undertake any activity related to ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear weapons,” he said.