Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it gets in way of Iran deal

• Iran and Oman are negotiating maritime arrangements for the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked since February.
• US President Donald Trump claims the US controls the Hormuz strait, despite traffic remaining throttled.
• Tehran has used its effective seizing of control over the strait as leverage against the US-led attempts to destroy its military.

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Aug 17 threatened to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a deal with Iran on the Strait of Hormuz and called for Iran to surrender.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s**t out of them,” Trump told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, referring to ongoing talks between Oman and Iran on control of the strait, while Washington is also pursuing its own talks.

He made a similar threat in May.

Iranian and Omani officials have been talking for weeks on future maritime navigation arrangements through the shipping route, and the Foreign Ministry in Tehran said earlier on Aug 17 that the two sides were working on a joint declaration.

Iran said a “shipping map” had been finalised as part of a broader agreement with Oman on how to govern traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, but Tehran warned that it would not necessarily translate into a reopening of the crucial maritime route.

However, Trump has repeatedly insisted that the strait, which Tehran effectively closed at the start of the Middle East war on Feb 28, is under US control despite traffic remaining throttled.

On Aug 14, Trump claimed that he would even declare the Strait of Hormuz part of US territory, while Iran retorted that the crucial energy waterway it has blockaded “will remain Iranian”.

Prior to the launch of the US-Israeli war against Iran, the strait was considered an open, international waterway. It carries significant portions of global energy shipments, as well as other commodities.

Tehran has used its effective seizing of control over the strait as leverage against the US-led attempts to destroy its military and force it to abandon a controversial nuclear power programme.

Iran’s coast flanks the north side of Hormuz and Oman lies on the south.

Trump also said Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender”, according to Yingst’s post on X on his interview with the President.

Trump insisted that he was in no hurry to reach a deal despite the deep unpopularity of the war among Americans ahead of November midterm elections in the United States, with opposition Democrats seeking to take control of Congress from Trump’s Republicans.

Trump told Yingst that there is a direct back-channel between his administration and officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.

“They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” he was quoted as saying.

Threat to step up tensions

Intensive talks are continuing, but reaching a deal has been time-consuming because of security complexities and the “obstructionist behaviour of destructive elements”, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei told reporters on Aug 17.

A senior official said, meanwhile, that Iran would escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and beyond, and launch an attack if the US fails to implement an interim peace deal fully in a matter of weeks.

If the US does not meet that deadline and diplomacy fails, Tehran would conduct a “timely and precise” military attack to break the US naval blockade on the Islamic republic, the official said.

He said Iran was shifting its policy from defence to offence, as it was losing confidence in the merits of diplomacy with Washington.

“It is a proven fact that the US is not serious about a ceasefire and won’t commit to any, so putting pressure on the enemy or relying on mediators in the hope of reaching a permanent ceasefire is not realistic,” he said.

Tensions in the Middle East were already on the rise over the weekend, when Israel’s military said it killed senior Hezbollah commander Abu Hassan Alaa in southern Lebanon. Eleven people died in the Israeli strikes on Aug 15, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said were in retaliation for an attack by the militant group that seriously injured three soldiers.

In recent days, Israel has also struck Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza, the Yemen-based Houthis have attacked ships in the Red Sea, and several vessels have been hit by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz.

Israeli settlers have, meanwhile, laid siege to Palestinian homes, drawing international condemnation. Netanyahu has downplayed that violence and blamed a small number of radicals.

Iran has used the relative lull in fighting to prepare for a potentially broader confrontation, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing Iranian and Arab officials. AFP, BLOOMBERG