President Trump threatened Monday to bomb Oman if it “gets in the way” of a deal over control of the Strait of Hormuz, telling Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst by phone: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s— out of them.” It’s the second time this year he’s made a version of that threat against a country that has never been in direct conflict with the U.S.
The comment came as a 60-day window for U.S.-Iran talks, agreed to in June, expired Monday with no deal and no clear path to one. Oman has been negotiating separately with Iran over managing shipping traffic through the Strait, including collecting voluntary maritime fees, at a moment when more than 80% of vessel traffic has already rerouted to avoid Iranian interference.
The Missiles That Followed
A day later, the UAE’s Defense Ministry said its air defenses detected two ballistic missiles launched from Iran, the country’s first known attack on the UAE since May. One missile fell outside UAE territorial waters, the other inside them; the UAE’s assessment was that both were aimed at maritime traffic rather than land targets. No casualties or damage were reported.
Oman’s position here is genuinely difficult. It’s spent decades as the region’s quiet back-channel, mediating between parties who won’t talk to each other directly. Trump wants that channel to produce a Hormuz arrangement on U.S. terms; Iran won’t negotiate with Washington directly at all. Oman is the country left holding both ends of that rope, now under a public threat from one side while a second country takes ballistic-missile fire near its waters from the other.
What do you think? Is Oman’s mediator role still viable in a conflict this volatile, or is neutrality no longer a realistic position for any state near the Strait? Let us know your thoughts in the comments on BeezLoop.com!
