A senior official says Iran is planning to build a new oil terminal beyond the strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reports.

Akbar Torkan, a senior trade official, was quoted by the ISNA news agency as saying Tuesday, March 25, that the new terminal will be at Bandar Jask port on the Oman Sea. Iran's sole major crude export terminal is at Khark Island in the Persian Gulf.

Torkan didn't elaborate, but bypassing Hormuz would be seen as protecting exports from instability in the Gulf.

Iranian officials in the past had threatened to close Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, the passageway through which a fifth of the world's oil flows, if its interests are seriously threatened or it is unable to export oil.

They have not reiterated any threats since 2012.