They did send something last time....there is a possibility that the monkey died and was replaced to show to the public....numerous soviet missions failed but they still sent the first satellite and and the first man to space(some suggest that their first man died too)....anyway they are not in a competition with the US so you don't have anything to brag about here(especially when you did not contribute to the Apollo missions yourself).
And regarding post#100 Iran is not faking launches(you can't fake it....all launches around the world can be are regularly tracked)
PS: Apollo 1 was a failure too and 3 astronauts so the US also has its fare share of failures.
