Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 13 / Trend A.Taghiyeva /
As a member of OPEC, Kuwait has a "backup plan" in case Iran decides to close the Strait of Hormuz, the Al Arabiya TV Channel quoted Kuwait Oil Corporation General Director Farooq an-Nazki as saying on Monday.
"Oil production in Kuwait in January was 2.9 million barrels per day, which is 100,000 barrels more than in the previous month," Nazki said.
Some leaders in Iran voiced threats about the possibility to close the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian and Oman Gulfs. These statements were supported by large-scale naval exercises with missile firings that took place earlier this month and were held in the waters of the strait. If Tehran takes action, it will hit both oil exporters, such as Saudi Arabia, and consumers, that is, almost all Western countries.
The U.S., UK and Canada have introduced unilateral sanctions against the Iranian energy and financial sectors. At the same time, the French authorities support the introduction of new, "unprecedented" sanctions, including freezing the assets of the Central Bank of Iran.
The new sanctions were made due to an IAEA report that says Iran carried out work aimed at producing nuclear weapons until 2003.
The U.S., Israel and several Western countries suspect Iran of trying to build nuclear weapons. The Iranian government says its nuclear program is peaceful.