[SatNews] With remarks made on Sunday via Iran's English-language Press TV, after the report last Thursday that the country had "successfully" tested an upgraded version of a S-200 system, with the "same capability as the Russian-made S-300 system,"Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi stated that Tehran would soon launch into space a number of its newly designed satellites, according to the Mehr news agency.

"Currently, we are building new satellites and soon, in the near future, some of them will be launched into space," Vahidi told the agency in the western city of Khoramabad. He did not specify when the launches would occur. Iran had planned a launch for its Rasad 1 (Observation) satellite in late August, but that event was postponed until the second half of the Iranian year to March 2011.
In February of 2009, Iran launched its first locally-built satellite Omid (Hope). Vahidi also said Iran was designing its own S-300 missiles, after Moscow's refusal to deliver the air defence projectiles because of UN sanctions against Tehran over its nuclear ambitions. "The production of the S-300 missile is now being pursued by domestic experts. The production is in the design process," he said. The S-300 is a surface-to-air missile in medium and high altitudes with a range of up to 150 kilometres (90 miles).