“Following the implementation of the country’s second decade-long space development program, three satellites are being developed to be ultimately put into orbit,” Barari, who is also Iran’s Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Technology, said on Sunday, noting that that the development of space technology in Iran could lead to “major” developments in the country’s economy.

“The second decade-long space development program was initiated in 2016 and will continue until 2025 with the development of space-related infrastructures,” he added.

The ISA chief stressed that no country had assisted Iran in the development of satellites launched by the country so far, adding that the Islamic Republic’s top universities had instead made good strategic and long-term investments in the field.

Iran’s indigenous satellite launch capabilities first made headlines when the first locally-built satellite, Omid (Hope), was launched in 2009.

The country also sent its first bio-capsule containing living creatures into space in February 2010, using a Kavoshgar-3 (Explorer-3) carrier.

Speaking on Sunday, Barari explained that the newly emerging economic field related to space technologies had grown 139 percent during the time span of a decade and therefore represented an economic opportunity.

Further elaborating on the economic benefits of advanced space technology, the Iranian space chief explained that satellite images could help increase efficiency in managing Iran’s environmental and agricultural sectors.

Data gathered from the satellites could also have a major role in avoiding and managing natural disasters, he said.

The Iranian space chief added that pre-existing satellite information greatly contributed to managing and reducing damages inflicted from major floods earlier this year.

“With new satellite data, this can be done much better,” he said.

Early in September, Barari had stressed that the US sanctions against Iran’s space centers and activities will not leave any impacts on their development.

“Iran’s space program initiatives are completely peaceful and sanctions will have no effect on the development of these plans,” Barari said.

He underlined that Iran’s space activities are fully peaceful, and the membership of the Agency in the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) and the position of the country in international communities is solid evidence of this.

A week earlier, Iranian Communication and IT Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi, in a post on his Twitter page, mocked Washington’s recent sanctions on Tehran’s space program, saying space is too vast to be controlled by US President Donald Trump.

“I can’t even locate the US in this picture, let alone sanctions on Space! The universe and the Bright Future belong to everyone, not to a few! Stop imitating Thanos, Donald Trump!” Azari Jahromi tweeted along with a mesmerizing photo of outer space.