France condemned Iran's launch of a missile into space and considered it "unfortunate" in light of the nuclear talks, while an Iranian official confirmed the failure of the attempt.
The French Foreign Ministry said - in a statement - that the Iranian missile program is a source of concern to the international community, including to Iran's neighbors and France.
The French Foreign Ministry added that the convergence of technology used in space and ballistic missile launches confirms Tehran's worrying progress in its ballistic missile program.
On Thursday, Iran said it had used one of its satellite launch rockets to send three research devices into space.
However, a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Defense confirmed today, Friday, - in statements carried by state television - that the missile that Iran launched into space failed to put 3 research devices in orbit because the missile was unable to reach the required speed.
"In order to put the payload into orbit, the missile's speed was required to exceed 7600 (meters per second). We reached 7350," the Iranian official explained - in a documentary report about the launch, broadcast on state television and posted on the website.
On Thursday, the US State Department said Washington was aware of reports about the launch, adding that such steps represented a challenge to a UN Security Council resolution related to the 2015 nuclear deal.
A German diplomat said the launch could be used to test ballistic missile technology that could in principle be used to launch nuclear weapons.
Tehran denies space launches are a cover for ballistic missile development.
The 2015 agreement extended the time Iran would need to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon, if it chose to do so, to at least a year, up from about two to three months, in exchange for the lifting of sanctions.
Indirect talks in an eighth round between Iran and the United States on the 2015 agreement resumed last Monday, with the aim of returning the United States to the agreement after its withdrawal in 2018 and re-imposing sanctions on Iran.