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Trump Threatens Oman Over Strait of Hormuz Impasse
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During a cabinet meeting, Donald Trump reportedly threatened to "blow up" Oman if the country failed to "behave," as the United States works to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This statement coincided with U.S. efforts to restore shipping lanes through the strategic waterway.
Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we'll have to blow them up. They understand that. They'll be fine.
Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have.
The strait is going to be open to everybody.
Only a satisfactory outcome in negotiations will end the downward spiral.
Threatening to 'blow up' an Arab country because its waters happen to sit along an oil route Washington wants reopened is the same lawless logic that produced this war in February, and it is the clearest possible signal that any ceasefire this administration brokers will hold only until the next time the president loses his temper at a cabinet meeting.
The UN Charter prohibits the threat of force against any state, and that prohibition binds the United States exactly as it binds everyone else.
It would turn Iran's grip on the chokepoint into a permanent post-war fact rather than a temporary act of war; it would set a precedent that littoral states [those bordering a large body of water] can metre and monetise an international waterway, eroding the freedom-of-navigation principle the United States underwrites worldwide; and it would hand Tehran a strategic win that outlasts any ceasefire.
Oman's real interest is not co-owning Iran's blockade; it is brokering the strait's reopening.
In peacetime, that ambiguity is an asset. In wartime, it becomes a liability, which is precisely the inversion now playing out.
Threatening a small ally is also a message to the whole Gulf: Do not give Iran cover.
What Washington wants to prevent is the normalisation of Iranian control over Hormuz, dressed in administrative and legal clothing and given Arab cover by a US ally.
I can't see how bombing Oman would necessarily change Iran's calculus [on Hormuz].
Oman has played a skilful regional hand in trying to stay apart from some of the conflicts and offering mediation support.
sources
- 1.The Guardian
- 2.Al Jazeera
- 3.The Irish Times
- 4.The New York Times
- 5.The Times of India
- 6.CNN
- 7.Hindustan Times
- 8.Golf News
- 9.The Korea Herald
- 10.The Straits Times
- 11.Sweden Herald
- 12.Associated Press
perspectives
- 1.US Foreign Policy
- 2.Israel-Palestine Conflict
- 3.British Foreign Policy
- 4.Israel under Benjamin Netanyahu
- 5.Intercontinental Ballistic Missile
- 6.Iran Foreign Policy
- 7.Oil Market
- 8.Saudi Foreign Policy
- 9.Turkish Foreign Policy
- 10.Tech industry
- 11.Yemen Houthis
- 12.Russia-Iran Ties
countries
- 1.Iran, Islamic Republic of
- 2.Oman
- 3.Israel
- 4.United States
- 5.Kuwait
- 6.Lebanon
- 7.Cuba
- 8.Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of
- 9.United Arab Emirates
- 10.Canada
- 11.Denmark
- 12.Greenland
organizations
- 1.White House
- 2.Iranian Revolutionary Guards
- 3.Hezbollah
- 4.Israel Defense Forces
- 5.US State Department
- 6.Democracy for the Arab World Now
- 7.Republican Party
- 8.Imam Hossein Division
- 9.Iranian Navy
- 10.King's College London
- 11.Middle East Council on Global Affairs
- 12.Persian Gulf Strait Authority
persons
- 1.Donald Trump
- 2.Sayyid Badr Albusaidi
- 3.Abbas Araqchi
- 4.Esmaeil Baqaeil
- 5.Kazem Gharibabadi
- 6.Marwan Abdelhamid
- 7.Raed Jarrar
- 8.Roger Wicker
- 9.Ali Al-Husni
- 10.Benjamin Netanyahu
- 11.Jill Biden
- 12.Joe Biden