Iranian authorities plan to relocate the city of Ahvaz airport after discovering an oil field under the runway.

Iranian authorities plan to relocate the city of Ahvaz airport after discovering an oil field under the runway.

"The Iranian Oil Ministry will acquire Ahvaz airport and a new airport will be built 15 kilometres from the city," the Director of the Iranian Airports Company Mohammed Rasulnijad told Iranian television İribnews on Friday.

The Cabinet has already negotiated the relocation of the airport, Rasulnijad said. The construction of the new transport hub is due to start in the coming days.

Iran has been under pressure this year from international sanctions, mainly over oil exports, imposed by the UN Security Council, the US and the EU in order to curb the Islamic Republic’s peaceful nuclear program.

In response Iran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway accounts for more than a third of the world's seaborne oil exports from Saudi Arabia, Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, the UAE and Qatar.