Iran launched a new national web search engine called "Yooz" on Sunday in order to overcome the internet-related sanctions imposed by the West, according to the country's Mehr News Agency.

The search engine will be able to support up to one billion Iranian websites, the project's manager Mehdi Naghavi, reportedly told the Mehr News Agency.

The engine was launched during an official ceremony in the capital city of Tehran, to which the Communication and IT Minister Mahmoud Vaezi also attended.

The issue of developing search engines was first on Iran's agenda in 2010 during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Since then the government has been trying to find ways to replace the West-based internet engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing with its own domestic versions, and thereby extend its control over access to the web in the country.