US President Donald Trump threatened earlier this week to attack Oman if it interferes with US efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. “If Oman gets in the way, we will bomb the shit out of them,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday, as Tehran said talks with Muscat over the vital waterway were ongoing. Oman, a historic ally of the United States, has attempted to act as a mediator between the United States and Iran before and during the conflict, notably by hosting nuclear negotiations between Tehran and Washington before the war broke out in February. The day before the United States and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said Iran had agreed not to stockpile enriched uranium, meaning it would never have enough material to create a nuclear weapon if it reached a deal with the United States. The next day, after the attacks between the United States and Israel, Albusaidi said he was “dismayed” that the “active and serious negotiations” between the United States and Iran had “been undermined once again.” In March, Albusaidi called the war with Iran the Trump administration’s “biggest miscalculation.” Days later, he posted on X: “Whatever your opinion on Iran, this war is not their fault.” In the months since, Oman has worked with Iran to draft protocols for reopening the Strait of Hormuz. In May, Trump threatened Oman for the first time, saying the country “will behave like everyone else or we will have to blow them up.” Weeks later, a senior US administration official told reporters that Oman had been “deceptive” during negotiation efforts with Iran, so they were “kicked out” of their mediation role. CNN’s Alejandra Jaramillo, Nadeen Ebrahim, Mostafa Salem, Haley Britzky, Jennifer Hansler, Antoinette Radford, Jessie Yeung, Sarah El Sirgany, Billy Stockwell, Mohammed Tawfeeq and Aaron Blake contributed to this report.
