Trump again threatens to ‘bomb the s*** out of’ ally Oman over Strait of Hormuz
President Donald Trump has threatened to launch an attack on ally Oman over the Strait of Hormuz, which remains largely out of service amid the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran.
A 60-day period to negotiate a ceasefire deal between the parties expired on Monday with no news of an extension and talks deadlocked in the same position as two months ago.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s**t out of them,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News on Monday. The president had previously threatened to “blow up” the country in May if it did not “behave”.
He told the outlet that the US had a backchannel with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and added: “They should put up the white flag of surrender.”
open image in galleryThe IRGC hit back at the comments saying they were “fantasies resulting from delusions and nightmares of defeat and desperation in the war” and accused Trump of trying to “control the price of oil and energy”.
Iranian and Omani officials remain in discussions over the beleaguered waterway as Iran says it is seeking to finalise a deal soon.
But Tehran warned it will escalate tensions in Hormuz and the wider region if diplomacy fails, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday. They highlighted that this would mark a significant shift from defense to offense.
“Iran will not wait for the U.S. to continue its blockade indefinitely,” they said.
Iran’s foreign minister spokesperson Esmail Baghaei provided an update earlier on Monday saying that talks with Oman were continuing and were taking a long time due to the complexity of the issues and “malicious parties”.
Tehran insisted there had been “no provision” for a deadline in the agreement and that Iran “never formulates it policies under pressure, ultimatums or time limits”. It added that “gross and widespread US violations” made the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) irrelevant.
On Friday, Trump had threatened to declare the shipping route American territory and later claimed he was “joking”, according to a US official who spoke to a Wall Street Journal reporter. Iranian officials called the claims “baseless lies and fabrications.”
open image in galleryPrevious threats to Oman were made in May, when the leader said during a cabinet meeting at the White House: "Oman will behave just like everyone else, or we'll have to blow them up.”
He reiterated that Oman and other nations should become signatories to the Abraham Accords, a US-led treaty brokered during his first term encouraging the normalization of diplomatic ties between Arab nations and Israel.
The comments came amid reports that Oman and Iran were working out a solution to control the waterway, which runs along both of their coasts, between them.
The idea of a voluntary fee for passing vessels has been floated during negotiations.
Oman has played a key role in working towards a peace deal and has endured Iranian retaliatory attacks amid the ongoing conflict.
It has been a key US ally in the region and maintained defense cooperation agreements for decades, which allow American forces access to Omani ports and air bases that are vital for operations in the region.
