Satellite imagery provided to Fox News suggests that an Iranian satellite launch this week failed quite spectacularly.

The rocket blew up on its launchpad or shortly after launch.

This is good news for the United States and regional security. Iran claims that its satellite program is peaceful and designed only to monitor the weather, but the reality is very different. Iran's satellite program is just a cover for the regime's development of a competent ballistic missile program. Because satellites are launched from Earth into a controlled orbit trajectory, they help Iran better understand how to get ballistic missiles onto their targeting course.

That is something the U.S. doesn't want to see happen. There is no good reason for Iran to build ballistic missiles, aside from striking distant targets with nuclear weapons.

If Iran can develop and deploy a nuclear-armed ballistic missile, it would achieve two malevolent opportunities. First, it would dangle the annihilation of a major Israeli city (or, if it can build many warheads, Israel itself). Such a development would require Israel to go to war with Iran in order to mitigate the risk of a second Holocaust. But Iran would also hope that Western powers would restrain Israel from that action and isolate the Jewish state into fear.

Second, Iran would extort the U.S., the Sunni-Arab kingdoms, and Europe for economic or political reasons. Considering Iran's theological project to dominate the Middle East, this extortion threat would either cause a war or allow Iran to subjugate the rights of its neighbors. Certainly, it would spark regimes such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt to build their own nuclear forces.

So, yeah, it's a good thing that Iran's satellite blew up on its launchpad.