Trump threatens to 'blow up' Oman if it joins Iran in controlling the Strait of Hormuz

President Donald Trump threatened to attack Oman if the sultanate sought to control the Strait of Hormuz jointly with Iran, raising the stakes against one of the few governments still talking to both sides of the war. Asked by reporters whether he would accept such an arrangement, Trump said, "Oman will behave like everyone else, or we'll have to blow them up." He was responding to a report on Iranian state television claiming that an unofficial draft agreement existed to restore shipping through the strait, under which Iran and Oman would jointly regulate traffic in the waterway.

The threat was directed at the Gulf's most established intermediary. Oman sits on the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz, maintains the closest ties to Tehran of any Gulf state, and has repeatedly hosted confidential US-Iran talks. "Oman has traditionally played a mediating role between the Arab Gulf states and Iran," said Marcus Schneider, who heads the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Regional Project for Peace and Security in the Middle East in Beirut, adding that "since the start of the war, Oman has been among the Gulf states pushing hardest for de-escalation." The sultanate relies on stable trade with China, India, Europe and its neighbors even as Washington steps up political pressure and the war edges closer to its borders.

Analysts said the premise of Trump's threat was largely a fiction. "Iran is increasingly portraying the strait as joint Iranian-Omani waters," Schneider said, but in Oman the idea is viewed with skepticism and would cut against the interests of the other Gulf states. Stefan Lukas, founder of the analysis firm Middle East Minds, called such reports "rather unrealistic," saying the government in Muscat has "absolutely no interest in joint control with Iran" and that its priority is restoring safe, uninterrupted shipping through the strait. Lukas described Oman as "one of the few remaining countries in the region that still maintains relatively stable relations with nearly all parties to the conflict."

The episode exposed the wider strain on US standing in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long viewed Oman's independent line with mixed feelings, benefiting from its channels to Tehran while distrusting its autonomy, and recent Iranian attacks have deepened doubts about US security guarantees. A recent Center for Strategic and International Studies assessment, citing local politicians, concluded that "Iran is here to stay" and that "forging ties of economic interdependence between Iran and the Gulf is likely the best form of deterrence," arguing that integrating Tehran into a regional economy that depends on stability "may be the best hope for deterring its disruptive behavior going forward."

Both analysts judged an actual strike on Oman highly unlikely. Schneider, citing conversations with Omani experts, said the threats read more as "an expression of frustration in Washington" and that hitting a long-standing partner would further weaken US influence; Lukas said the sultanate's value as a back channel was "simply too great" and that an attack would sharply limit US diplomatic options across the region. The warning was the latest in a week of Trump ultimatums tied to the war -- a CNN tally counted at least 15 countries he has threatened or used force against during his presidency -- and it landed days after US and Iranian forces exchanged strikes near the strait.