admin
Why Trump’s threats against Oman are so bizarre
US President Donald Trump’s threat to “blow up” Oman baffled observers across the political spectrum in Washington, targeting one of America’s oldest Arab allies.
Oman is the longest continuously independent state in the Arab world and was the first Gulf Arab country to formalize relations with the United States in 1833. For the past 15 years, Muscat has negotiated prisoner releases with Iran on Washington’s behalf and hosted backchannel talks between the two adversaries. Amid Cold War tensions and in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution, Oman became the first Gulf state to seal a military access agreement with the US in 1980.
Dubbed the “Switzerland of the Middle East,” Muscat has long pursued a fiercely independent foreign policy shaped by its history and geography. Its strategic location on the Arabian Sea and partial control of the Strait of Hormuz helped make it a regional power in the 19th century, with one of the area’s most formidable navies. But its position also exposed it to repeated invasions and interference from regional powers, including the Persians and the Saudis, as well as foreign-backed insurgencies at home.
Muscat’s relations with Iran were historically cordial but cautious. Unlike some neighboring Gulf states that became hubs for Iranian business and migration, Oman maintained a quieter relationship with Tehran focused largely on diplomacy, helping turn the country into a trusted intermediary between the two adversaries.
But Oman’s delicate balancing act became more complicated this year. One day before the US-Israeli attack on Iran in February, Omani Foreign Minister Sayyed Badr Albusaidi – who had been mediating talks between Tehran and Washington – appeared on American television insisting that negotiations had made “substantial progress” and that a deal was “within reach.”
Since the conflict began, Oman has emerged as one of the region’s strongest critics of the war, with Albusaidi warning that Washington had “lost control of its own foreign policy”. Throughout the fighting, Muscat remained engaged with Iran, the US and regional powers in efforts to revive diplomacy, even as strikes linked to the war hit Omani territory – making Trump’s public threats against Oman all the more extraordinary.
