The US president warns that Oman, a US ally, ‘will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up’.
United States President Donald Trump has threatened to use military force against Oman if it collaborates with Iran to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz.
At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a reporter asked Trump to weigh in on the idea of Oman and Iran overseeing trade on the strategic waterway, which handles more than 20 percent of the world’s global oil traffic.
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“ Would you accept a short-term deal that allows Iran and Oman to control the strait?” the reporter asked.
Trump replied with a seemingly offhand 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.”
While there was initial speculation that Trump might have misspoken and said “Oman” instead of “Iran”, the US State Department later shared the comment on social media, with a transcript of the quote that referred to the Arab country.
Oman, which is known for its neutrality, has not said it wants to join Iran in controlling Hormuz. The US and Oman are close allies with a relationship that stretches more than 200 years.
The two countries have multiple cooperation treaties, including security partnerships, a free trade agreement and a science and technology deal.
Oman previously acted as a key mediator between Washington and Tehran as they sought a resolution to the war that began on February 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
Trump’s apparent threat on Wednesday highlights his increasing reliance on military force in his foreign policy, a strategy sometimes called “gunboat diplomacy”.
But critics were quick to slam the threat as reckless. Raed Jarrar, the advocacy director at the US-based rights group DAWN, likened the US president’s comments to those of a “mafia boss”.
“The UN Charter prohibits the threat of force against any state, and that prohibition binds the United States exactly as it binds everyone else,” Jarrar told Al Jazeera.
“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.”
Trump’s threat came after Iran’s state television reported on the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries.
The memo draft would reportedly have given Iran and Oman joint control to manage the strait. The Trump administration, however, has called the report “a complete fabrication”.
Hormuz — a major shipping lane for global energy products and agricultural fertiliser — has operated as a free international passageway for decades. But after the US and Israel started bombing Iran in February, Tehran closed the strait and began to assert sovereignty over it.
Parts of the waterway go through Iranian and Omani territorial waters.
During Wednesday’s cabinet meeting, Trump also reiterated his call for Arab countries — including Saudi Arabia and Qatar — to establish formal relations with Israel as part of any future US-Iran ceasefire agreement.
Previously, during his first term in office, Trump had helped mediate the so-called Abraham Accords to encourage Arab countries to forge official ties with Israel.
That normalisation push has reemerged in recent days as a top priority for Trump. He has threatened to pull back from negotiations if more Arab countries do not sign on.
“ I think they owe that to us, to be honest,” Trump said at one point during Wednesday’s roundtable.
He later added, “I’m not sure we should make the deal if they don’t sign, if you want to know the truth.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
