The US president warned that Oman, a US ally, “will act like any other country, or we will have to blow it up.”
US President Donald Trump has threatened to use military force against Oman if it cooperates with Iran to assert control of the Strait of Hormuz.
At Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, reporters asked President Trump to weigh in on the idea of Oman and Iran overseeing trade in the strategic waterway, which handles more than 20% of the world’s oil shipments.
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“Would you accept a short-term deal that would allow Iran and Oman to control the strait?” the reporter asked.
President Trump responded with a seemingly careless threat. “No one can control it. This is the high seas and Oman will act like other countries, otherwise we will have to blow them up.”
There was initial speculation that Trump had mistakenly said “Oman” instead of “Iran,” but the U.S. State Department later shared the comment on social media, along with a transcript of the quote referring to the Arab country.
Oman, known for its neutrality, does not want to join Iran’s control of Hormuz. The United States and Oman are close allies with a relationship spanning more than 200 years.
The two countries have several cooperation agreements, including a security partnership, free trade agreement, and science and technology agreement.
Oman had previously served as a key intermediary between the US and Iranian governments seeking a resolution to the war that began on February 28, when the US and Israel attacked Iran.
President Trump’s apparent threat on Wednesday underscores his foreign policy’s increasing reliance on military force, a strategy also known as “gunboat diplomacy.”
But critics quickly called the threat reckless. Reid Jarrah, advocacy director for the US-based human rights group DAWN, likened the US president’s comments to those of a “mafia boss”.
“The United Nations Charter prohibits the threat of force against any state, and that prohibition binds the United States just as it binds other countries,” Jarrah told Al Jazeera.
“Threatening to ‘blow up’ Arab countries because their waters happen to lie along oil routes that Washington wants to reopen is the same lawless logic that produced this war in February, and the clearest signal that this administration-brokered ceasefire will only last until the next time the president loses his temper at a Cabinet meeting.”
President Trump’s threat came after Iranian state television reported on the framework of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the two countries.
The draft memo would reportedly give Iran and Oman joint control of the strait. However, the Trump administration called the report a “complete fabrication.”
Hormuz is a major shipping route for the world’s energy products and agricultural fertilizers, and has operated as a free international shipping route for decades. But after the United States and Israel began bombing Iran in February, Iran closed the strait and began asserting its sovereignty over it.
Parts of the waterway pass through the territorial waters of Iran and Oman.
At Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting, President Trump also renewed his call for Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to establish formal relations with Israel as part of a future U.S.-Iran ceasefire agreement.
During Trump’s first term in office, he helped broker the so-called Abraham Accords, which encouraged Arab countries to establish formal relations with Israel.
This push for normalcy has re-emerged as President Trump’s top priority in recent days. It threatened to withdraw from the negotiations if more Arab countries did not sign.
“I think they owe it to us, to be honest with you,” Trump said at one point during Wednesday’s roundtable.
He later added, “If you want to know the truth, if they won’t sign it, I don’t know if we should sign it.”
The White House did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.
