A senior Iranian gas industry official says the country has started building an underground natural gas storage facility in salt domes near the central city of Kashan.

Iran will become holder of the largest gas storage facilities in the Middle East in the current Iranian calendar year, which began on March 21.

Iran's Sarajeh gas storage facility came on stream on Monday, Massoud Samivand, managing director of Natural Gas Storage Company said on Tuesday.

Once the Shoorijeh gas storage facility comes on stream, some 4.8 billion cubic meters would be added to Iran's total gas storage capacity, Natural Gas Storage Company's managing director said on Wednesday.