Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb.16 / Trend, A.Taghiyeva /
Members of the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) will discuss the construction of new oil and gas pipelines projects against a background of Iran's threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, the organisation's website reported on Thursday.
The projects will be discussed at a summit to be held on Feb.21-23 in Cairo, Egypt.
According to the report, the summit was scheduled earlier last November but postponed due to political unrest in the region.
A number of Iranian leaders have threatened to prevent all shipping movement through the Strait of Hormuz connecting the Persian and Oman gulfs. These statements were supported by large-scale naval exercises including rocket firing that took place in the waters of the Strait earlier this month. If Tehran moves from words to actions then it will hit oil exporters, mainly Saudi Arabia as well as consumers who are almost all Western countries.
The reason for new sanctions was the IAEA report. According to it, Iran conducted operations aimed at developing nuclear weapons until 2003 and that this activity may still be underway.
The U.S., Israel and several Western countries suspect Iran of trying to create nuclear weapons. The Iranian government says that its nuclear programme is peaceful.