TEHRAN, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said on Saturday the successful launch of 11 satellites over the past 30 months showed that the sanctions against his country had failed.
Raisi made the remarks at a ceremony to mark the National Space Technology Day in the Iranian capital Tehran, during which he hailed Iran's achievements in the space industry despite the sanctions against the country, according to a statement published on the website of his office.
"The enemies sought to stop the Iranian nation's progress and isolate the country by imposing sanctions, but 11 space launches in the past two and a half years proved that the Islamic Republic of Iran has managed to doom the sanctions and plots aimed at isolating the country to failure," Raisi was quoted as saying.
Raisi added the country's accomplishments in the space industry were manifestations of "turning the sanctions and threats into opportunities" by Iranian youths, experts, academics and armed forces, stressing that Iran's space technology ranking has risen from 45th to 10th in the world as a result of these efforts.
The Iranian president highlighted the necessity to accelerate and increase the country's launch of satellites as well as to continue the development of infrastructure in the space industry.
Speaking at the same ceremony, Iranian Minister of Information and Communications Technology Isa Zarepour said the incumbent administration planned to launch into orbit from Iranian territory a satellite belonging to another country by the end of its term in 2025, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.
He added the country also sought to put its satellites into the geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), which is 35,786 kilometers above the Earth's surface, noting that the Iranian government planned to turn its space industry into an economic one to generate revenues.
On Jan. 28, Iran simultaneously sent three indigenous satellites into space for the first time in its history, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported.
The satellites were launched to an elliptic orbit with a minimum altitude of 450 kilometers above the Earth's surface, said the ISNA report.
The U.S. sanctions on Iran intensified after Washington's unilateral withdrawal in May 2018 from a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which was signed between Tehran and world powers, as the U.S. tried to exert "maximum pressure" on the Islamic republic. ■