Russia said Iran has not asked to send astronauts to the International Space Station, despite an announcement by an Iranian official who said his country is planning to send astronauts with Russia’s assistance.

The head of Iran’s Space Organization Morteza Barari told local media on October 22 that Iran is planning to send astronauts to the space station in cooperation with Russia.

But the Director of Roscosmos, Sergey Krikalev said October 23, Iran has not contacted Russia’s space authorities with such a request, ITAR-Tass reported.

"I have not heard anything about this. There is a specific procedure for coordination. If we receive such a proposal, depending on how the coordination procedure goes, several options are possible," Krikalev told reporters at the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington.

Barari had said that in case of reaching agreement ith Russia, Iranian astronauts would use Russian Soyuz rockets to reach the International Space Station.

Currently, fifteen countries are partners in maintaining the space station.