Located on the Arab world’s periphery, the Sultanate of Oman is a seafaring nation with a history of shipbuilding. It looks outward to the Indian Ocean and more inwardly to the Arabian Peninsula. It is not out of character, therefore, that when it comes to foreign policy, Muscat has long broken with pan-Arab trends and pursued an independent foreign policy reflective of the Sultanate’s links with many non-Arab peoples whose ancestors began interacting with Omanis centuries ago.
Oman’s relationship with Iran is a case in point. Despite being a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – created in 1981 to defend against the spread of Iran’s Islamic revolution – Oman has maintained a close and even warm relationship with Tehran. Having assessed that both Iran and Iraq could severely harm Oman’s security and economic interests, then-Sultan Qaboos bin Said kept his country neutral during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and leveraged this neutrality to secretly facilitate negotiations that helped wind down the gruesome conflict. Over the decades, Oman has continued to serve as a bridge between the West, Arab states, and the Islamic Republic.
While Qatar has received most of the attention recently as a mediator between Israel and Hamas in efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, Oman has worked quietly to prevent the war from becoming a regional conflagration. Oman has provided a backchannel between the U.S. and the Yemeni Houthis, who in November 2023 entered the fray with a series of missile and drone attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea.
Oman condemned retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and the U.K. against Houthi bases in Yemen and warned that such actions risk further escalating regional tensions. Yet Omani officials have passed U.S. messages to both Iran and the Houthis. On January 30, Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi hosted British Foreign Secretary David Cameron to discuss the Red Sea crisis.
Muscat has traditionally opposed foreign military intervention in Yemen. For example, in March 2015 Oman was the only GCC member that refused to join a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. Muscat’s condemnation of the recent U.S. and U.K. strikes on Yemen reflects public opinion in Oman, which has been increasingly angry at both Israel and the U.S. because of the war in Gaza.
Oman’s go-between role for the United States first came to light when then-President Bill Clinton wrote a groundbreaking letter to then-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in 1999, seeking answers about Iran’s involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. The letter was delivered to Sultan Qaboos at his estate outside Paris and taken to Tehran by then-Omani foreign minister Yousef Bin Alawi. Later under the Obama administration, Oman helped free U.S. hikers who had strayed across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Oman’s biggest achievement was serving as a venue for backchannel negotiations that led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which restricted Iran’s nuclear advances in return for sanctions relief. Although the Trump administration quit the agreement in 2018 and its revival looks unlikely in the foreseeable future, Oman still remains committed to serving as a diplomatic bridge between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions on both nuclear and non-nuclear fronts.
“Oman’s foreign policy has always sought to maintain and encourage dialogue among various parties,” said an Omani official who spoke to the author on the condition of anonymity. “We believe that a peace-building approach can limit and contain conflicts, and eventually lead to peaceful resolutions. In fact, Oman has a vested interest in de-escalation and reducing tension in the region and internationally…Oman continues to facilitate indirect diplomatic dialogue between the US and Iran [to help create] an environment conducive to reaching an agreement that addresses the interest of both sides and contributes to peace and prosperity in our region and the world.”
As much as Muscat believes that a revival of the JCPOA would be positive for the interests of Oman, the Middle East, and the world at large, Omani policymakers are realistic about the accord’s status. Muscat hopes to move the Biden administration toward looser enforcement of sanctions in exchange for Iran’s agreement not to cross certain lines in its nuclear activities and regional behavior. To some degree, Omani diplomacy has already helped bring about this outcome.
Last year, the Omanis hosted several rounds of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran. Oman was one of the critical players in a U.S.-Iran prisoner/hostage swap and transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar in September. Shortly after the exchange, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Sultan Haitham for his intervention which Blinken said was “crucial to finalizing this arrangement.” That same month before the UN General Assembly, Oman’s foreign minister said that despite rapprochement being “slow, painstaking and challenging,” the U.S. and Iran need to “maintain a momentum of trust…and de-escalation” in the interest of regional stability and the global economy.
U.S. envoy Brett McGurk was scheduled to meet Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri in Oman at the end of October 2023 to work on further nuclear de-escalation. But the meeting was cancelled after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and Israel retaliated with a massive air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip.
A top priority for officials in Muscat is to try to prevent the escalating crises in Gaza, Yemen, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea from expanding into the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman. Within this context, Oman has been attempting to convince Tehran to avoid further escalation as regional tensions keep heating up.
Oman has a vested interest in seeing Iran and Saudi Arabia’s détente remain on track. Officials in Muscat, along with counterparts in Baghdad and Beijing, contributed to facilitating the Saudi-Iranian normalization agreement signed on March 10, 2023.
“Oman always supports peaceful resolutions to regional issues,” the foreign ministry official said. “Iran and Saudi Arabia are crucial players in the Middle East, and they both have good relations with Oman…Both Riyadh and Tehran showed neighborly interest in resolving their differences. Therefore, Oman hosted the first-ever rounds of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and even after the signing in China, Oman continued to host talks between the two countries [to] ensure the implementation of the deal. Many of these issues [had] been lingering over the years, and the goodwill of both sides prevailed and led to resuming active diplomatic relations.”
Beyond keeping Iranian détente with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on track, Oman is also working toward restoring normal diplomatic relations between Iran and Bahrain.
Omani policymakers believe that ending the carnage in Gaza as quickly as possible is necessary to reduce tensions in the region. The Omani official who spoke to this author said Muscat condemns what he called the “brutal” and “senseless” war on Gaza, which Oman’s leadership does not believe will make Israel more secure. Muscat has reached out to members of the UN Security Council and many influential capitals to advance efforts to achieve a cease-fire. “We believe that there is an urgent need for de-escalation and an inclusive approach to establish a comprehensive peace, where the Palestinians will get their own independent state and Israel will get the security it [needs with support from] the international community,” said the official from the Foreign Ministry.
As for the Iranian nuclear file, Oman as well as Qatar are working to maintain open lines of dialogue between Washington and Tehran has lat a time when Iran-backed groups in the region kill U.S. military personnel and Washington plans a strong response while continuing its support for Israel.
Giorgio Cafiero is the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington, DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy, and an adjunct fellow at the American Security Project.
Oman Keeps Trying to Dial Down Tensions in the Middle East
By Giorgio Cafiero
Middle East & North Africa
Located on the Arab world’s periphery, the Sultanate of Oman is a seafaring nation with a history of shipbuilding. It looks outward to the Indian Ocean and more inwardly to the Arabian Peninsula. It is not out of character, therefore, that when it comes to foreign policy, Muscat has long broken with pan-Arab trends and pursued an independent foreign policy reflective of the Sultanate’s links with many non-Arab peoples whose ancestors began interacting with Omanis centuries ago.
Oman’s relationship with Iran is a case in point. Despite being a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – created in 1981 to defend against the spread of Iran’s Islamic revolution – Oman has maintained a close and even warm relationship with Tehran. Having assessed that both Iran and Iraq could severely harm Oman’s security and economic interests, then-Sultan Qaboos bin Said kept his country neutral during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war and leveraged this neutrality to secretly facilitate negotiations that helped wind down the gruesome conflict. Over the decades, Oman has continued to serve as a bridge between the West, Arab states, and the Islamic Republic.
While Qatar has received most of the attention recently as a mediator between Israel and Hamas in efforts to reach a cease-fire in Gaza, Oman has worked quietly to prevent the war from becoming a regional conflagration. Oman has provided a backchannel between the U.S. and the Yemeni Houthis, who in November 2023 entered the fray with a series of missile and drone attacks on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and southern Red Sea.
Oman condemned retaliatory strikes by the U.S. and the U.K. against Houthi bases in Yemen and warned that such actions risk further escalating regional tensions. Yet Omani officials have passed U.S. messages to both Iran and the Houthis. On January 30, Omani foreign minister Badr Albusaidi hosted British Foreign Secretary David Cameron to discuss the Red Sea crisis.
Muscat has traditionally opposed foreign military intervention in Yemen. For example, in March 2015 Oman was the only GCC member that refused to join a Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis. Muscat’s condemnation of the recent U.S. and U.K. strikes on Yemen reflects public opinion in Oman, which has been increasingly angry at both Israel and the U.S. because of the war in Gaza.
Oman’s go-between role for the United States first came to light when then-President Bill Clinton wrote a groundbreaking letter to then-Iranian President Mohammad Khatami in 1999, seeking answers about Iran’s involvement in the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. The letter was delivered to Sultan Qaboos at his estate outside Paris and taken to Tehran by then-Omani foreign minister Yousef Bin Alawi. Later under the Obama administration, Oman helped free U.S. hikers who had strayed across the border from Iraqi Kurdistan.
Oman’s biggest achievement was serving as a venue for backchannel negotiations that led to the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which restricted Iran’s nuclear advances in return for sanctions relief. Although the Trump administration quit the agreement in 2018 and its revival looks unlikely in the foreseeable future, Oman still remains committed to serving as a diplomatic bridge between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions on both nuclear and non-nuclear fronts.
“Oman’s foreign policy has always sought to maintain and encourage dialogue among various parties,” said an Omani official who spoke to the author on the condition of anonymity. “We believe that a peace-building approach can limit and contain conflicts, and eventually lead to peaceful resolutions. In fact, Oman has a vested interest in de-escalation and reducing tension in the region and internationally…Oman continues to facilitate indirect diplomatic dialogue between the US and Iran [to help create] an environment conducive to reaching an agreement that addresses the interest of both sides and contributes to peace and prosperity in our region and the world.”
As much as Muscat believes that a revival of the JCPOA would be positive for the interests of Oman, the Middle East, and the world at large, Omani policymakers are realistic about the accord’s status. Muscat hopes to move the Biden administration toward looser enforcement of sanctions in exchange for Iran’s agreement not to cross certain lines in its nuclear activities and regional behavior. To some degree, Omani diplomacy has already helped bring about this outcome.
Last year, the Omanis hosted several rounds of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran. Oman was one of the critical players in a U.S.-Iran prisoner/hostage swap and transfer of $6 billion in Iranian funds from South Korea to Qatar in September. Shortly after the exchange, Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised Sultan Haitham for his intervention which Blinken said was “crucial to finalizing this arrangement.” That same month before the UN General Assembly, Oman’s foreign minister said that despite rapprochement being “slow, painstaking and challenging,” the U.S. and Iran need to “maintain a momentum of trust…and de-escalation” in the interest of regional stability and the global economy.
U.S. envoy Brett McGurk was scheduled to meet Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri in Oman at the end of October 2023 to work on further nuclear de-escalation. But the meeting was cancelled after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7 and Israel retaliated with a massive air and ground assault on the Gaza Strip.
A top priority for officials in Muscat is to try to prevent the escalating crises in Gaza, Yemen, the Gulf of Aden, and the Red Sea from expanding into the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman. Within this context, Oman has been attempting to convince Tehran to avoid further escalation as regional tensions keep heating up.
Oman has a vested interest in seeing Iran and Saudi Arabia’s détente remain on track. Officials in Muscat, along with counterparts in Baghdad and Beijing, contributed to facilitating the Saudi-Iranian normalization agreement signed on March 10, 2023.
“Oman always supports peaceful resolutions to regional issues,” the foreign ministry official said. “Iran and Saudi Arabia are crucial players in the Middle East, and they both have good relations with Oman…Both Riyadh and Tehran showed neighborly interest in resolving their differences. Therefore, Oman hosted the first-ever rounds of talks between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and even after the signing in China, Oman continued to host talks between the two countries [to] ensure the implementation of the deal. Many of these issues [had] been lingering over the years, and the goodwill of both sides prevailed and led to resuming active diplomatic relations.”
Beyond keeping Iranian détente with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates on track, Oman is also working toward restoring normal diplomatic relations between Iran and Bahrain.
Omani policymakers believe that ending the carnage in Gaza as quickly as possible is necessary to reduce tensions in the region. The Omani official who spoke to this author said Muscat condemns what he called the “brutal” and “senseless” war on Gaza, which Oman’s leadership does not believe will make Israel more secure. Muscat has reached out to members of the UN Security Council and many influential capitals to advance efforts to achieve a cease-fire. “We believe that there is an urgent need for de-escalation and an inclusive approach to establish a comprehensive peace, where the Palestinians will get their own independent state and Israel will get the security it [needs with support from] the international community,” said the official from the Foreign Ministry.
As for the Iranian nuclear file, Oman as well as Qatar are working to maintain open lines of dialogue between Washington and Tehran has lat a time when Iran-backed groups in the region kill U.S. military personnel and Washington plans a strong response while continuing its support for Israel.
Giorgio Cafiero is the CEO of Gulf State Analytics, a Washington, DC-based geopolitical risk consultancy, and an adjunct fellow at the American Security Project.
Recent & Related