Iran has expressed total solidarity with Oman after US President Donald Trump threatened to blow up the Gulf sultanate if it cooperates with Tehran on jointly managing the Strait of Hormuz, marking a dramatic escalation in Washington’s increasingly erratic diplomacy as peace negotiations with Iran continue to stall.
At a cabinet meeting at the White House on May 27, a reporter asked Trump whether he would accept a short-term deal allowing Iran and Oman to control the Strait of Hormuz. Trump replied with a blunt threat: “Nobody is going to control it. It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei responded directly, saying Tehran stands in full solidarity with Oman following the threats issued by US officials. The statement came after initial speculation that Trump may have misspoken and said Oman instead of Iran, but the US State Department itself later shared the comment on social media with a transcript confirming the threat was directed at Oman.
The dispute centres on Iranian state media reports that Tehran and Muscat had been in discussions to jointly manage shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran militarised in retaliation for the US-Israeli war that began on February 28. Control of the waterway has been a key sticking point in ceasefire negotiations between Washington and Tehran, with the effective closure of the strait having sent global energy prices soaring and disrupted trade in oil and other commodities worldwide.
While Trump insisted the Strait of Hormuz is international waters, analysts pointed out that this is factually inaccurate. Most of the strait runs through Iranian and Omani territorial waters, not international waters, with parts of its outlying areas only reaching UAE territorial waters. Trump’s claim that no country can control the waterway therefore directly contradicts the legal reality on the ground.
Oman has long pursued a foreign policy distinct from its Gulf neighbours. While maintaining close security ties with the United States, Muscat has also preserved relations with Iran, serving for decades as one of the region’s most trusted intermediaries between Washington and Tehran. Oman’s Foreign Minister had publicly said a deal to avert the Iran war was within reach as Trump ordered the bombing to begin in February.
Progress toward a ceasefire deal has see-sawed since both sides agreed to a pause in hostilities on April 8, with Trump officials repeatedly claiming a final agreement is close. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Monday that the two sides had reached conclusions on a large portion of issues under discussion, but several sticking points remain, and neither side wants to emerge from the war appearing to be the bigger loser.
That Trump would threaten to destroy a longstanding American partner reveals the extraordinary fragility of the ongoing peace process and the reckless nature of an administration issuing military threats while claiming to pursue diplomacy.
