US Vs Iran: Trump Threatens To Bomb Oman

President Donald Trump has warned that he would bomb Oman, a US ally, should it “gets in the way” of his administration’s separate negotiations with Iran, according to Fox News.

Both the US and Oman have been holding independent talks with Tehran aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route critical to the world economy that has stayed mostly shut for close to six months amid the US-Iran conflict.

According to a Fox correspondent, the president made the warning to Oman, using profanity during a phone conversation.

Earlier that same day, Iranian representatives indicated a deal with Oman was nearly complete.

At the same time, it remains uncertain whether US-Iran talks will continue, given that a 60-day Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries is set to lapse.

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Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz largely sealed off since the US and Israel struck the country in February.

Roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically flows through the strait, making its reopening a central issue in negotiations.

Situated along the strait’s southern edge, Oman maintains it is neutral in the conflict, despite having been hit by several Iranian strikes, and has emerged as a central mediator in efforts to get Tehran to reopen the waterway.

The US has meanwhile pushed forward with its own separate push toward reopening the strait. Fox correspondent Trey Yingst quoted Trump as saying: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them.”

In that same Fox interview, Trump additionally revealed that Washington maintains a direct backchannel to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a powerful military, economic, and political actor within Iran.