Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi visited a space exhibition in Tehran and asked officials to work on reaching the 36,000 km orbit around the earth in four years.

Minister of Communications and Information technology, Issa Zarepour, who supervises Iran’s space program told local media that the project to reach the high orbit was planned to be accomplished in 10 years, but Raisi asked to speed up the program. The president pledged all the assistance needed to help Iran’s Space Agency.

Although some of Iran’s attempts to launch satellites have failed, it currently has four satellites in low orbit. In April 2020, a military satellite called Nour 1 was launched.

In February, the defense ministry said it tested a new satellite carrier rocket for an orbit of less than 500 km.

The United States and other countries are concerned that Iran’s satellite program is a cover for developing ballistic missiles that can exceed the current 2,000 km range of Iranian missiles.

Zarepour also said that Raisi emphasized the need to commercialize Iran’s rocket and space capabilities by exporting expertise and engineering knowhow.