Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says Tehran plans to send its first domestically-made satellite into orbit in the near future.

"We will soon launch a 16-engine rocket that will take a satellite some 700 km (430 miles) into space," Ahmadinejad told a group of Iranian expatriates in New York, where he is attending the UN General Assembly.

The president's comment came after the successful launch of Iran's first domestically-produced satellite carrier, Safir 1, capable of putting lightweight satellites into low earth orbit.

The Head of the Iranian Aerospace Organization Reza Taqipour has told Press TV that the Safir 1 launch would pave the way for Iran to send its domestically-built telecommunications satellite, Omid (hope) into orbit "in the near future".

Russia launched Iran's first satellite in 2005. Earlier this year a satellite was sent into orbit which had been jointly designed by Iran, China and Thailand to help in natural disasters and aerospace research.

In another development, Taqipour announced that Iran plans to design and build a satellite called Besharat in cooperation with the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC).

The Islamic Republic is also expected to launch its first manned space mission by the year 2021.

DB/AA/RA