Trump threatens military action against Oman over Strait of Hormuz control

President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened military action against Oman, a US ally of more than 200 years, if the Gulf nation becomes involved in controlling the Strait of Hormuz. During a cabinet meeting in Washington, Trump said, "Nobody is going to control it. It's international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up."

The threat came after reports that Oman had held talks with Iran about jointly overseeing passage through the Strait of Hormuz. This waterway, located between Oman and Iran, carries more than 20 percent of the world's global oil traffic. Iran's state television reported that Tehran and the United States were close to agreeing on a memorandum of understanding under which Iran and Oman would jointly control the strait.

The Strait of Hormuz is not entirely international waters, despite Trump's comment. Most of the waterway sits within Iranian and Omani territorial waters, with some outer areas reaching United Arab Emirates territory. Under international maritime law, countries cannot charge tolls for ships passing through natural straits, even if those straits are not in international waters. However, countries can provide paid services to shippers, such as insurance or docking assistance.

Iran's proposal would frame payments from passing vessels as "fees for services" rather than "tolls." The Trump administration called claims of such a deal "a complete fabrication." However, experts say Trump's threat reveals that an agreement between Iran and Oman is precisely what the US president wants to prevent. Muhanad Seloom, a non-resident senior fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, told Al Jazeera: "What Washington wants to prevent is the normalisation of Iranian control over Hormuz, dressed in administrative and legal clothing and given Arab cover by a US ally."

Initial speculation suggested Trump might have misspoken and meant to threaten Iran instead of Oman. The US Department of State later confirmed the comment on social media, releasing a transcript that specifically referred to Oman, a country with a population of 5.3 million. Oman has not publicly stated any intention to join Iran in controlling the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei on Thursday expressed solidarity with Oman after "US officials' threats."

Critics condemned the threat as reckless and illegal. Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at DAWN, a US-based rights group, told Al Jazeera: "The UN Charter prohibits the threat of force against any state, and that prohibition binds the United States exactly as it binds everyone else. Threatening to 'blow up' an Arab country because its waters happen to sit along an oil route Washington wants reopened is the same lawless logic that produced this war in February." Samir Puri, a visiting lecturer in war studies at King's College in London, called Trump's threat "really surprising" and warned it would "send shockwaves across the region."

Trump's comments arrive as negotiations for a permanent ceasefire with Iran have stalled. A temporary ceasefire began on April 8, followed by direct talks in Islamabad on April 11 and 12 that collapsed. The two sides have since exchanged proposals and counter-proposals through mediator Pakistan. Neither the US nor Iran has announced the ceasefire is over, though military flare-ups continue. On Thursday, Iran's Tasnim news agency reported that four ships, including a United Kingdom tanker, turned off their radars to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps responded with warning shots. The IRGC also said it struck a US airbase in response to a morning attack by US forces on a site near the airport in Iran's Bandar Abbas, which the US described as "defensive."

Oman has played a crucial role in US-Iran relations. Before the war began, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi worked as a key mediator in US-Iran nuclear talks. On February 27, the day before a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran, Albusaidi met with Vice President JD Vance in Washington and said talks had produced "creative and constructive ideas and proposals" and "unprecedented progress." Hours later, Trump announced the US had attacked Iran because "he had a feeling" that Iran would strike first, claiming negotiations had stalled. Albusaidi pushed back, saying "significant progress" had been made and that Iran was not an "imminent threat."

Unlike other Gulf allies such as Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE, Oman does not host US military forces. Yet the country was drawn into the conflict when Iran launched attacks on US military assets and energy infrastructure across the Gulf. On March 1, two drones struck the Duqm commercial port in central Oman. A fuel tank at the port was hit in another drone attack two days later. At the time, Trump expressed solidarity with Oman, saying: "Iran is hitting countries that had nothing to do with what is going on."

Experts say Oman's unique position makes it vital to any lasting resolution. Seloom told Al Jazeera that Oman is "one Gulf state that is simultaneously a US security partner and Iran's most trusted Arab interlocutor." He argued that joint Iran-Oman control over Hormuz was "more posture than probability," saying "Oman's real interest is not co-owning Iran's blockade; it is brokering the strait's reopening."

According to Seloom, the prospect of Iran and Oman jointly managing the Strait of Hormuz troubles Trump for three reasons. First, it would make Iran's control of the chokepoint permanent rather than temporary. Second, it would set a precedent allowing countries bordering large bodies of water to charge for passage, undermining the freedom-of-navigation principle the US supports worldwide. Third, it would give Iran a strategic victory that outlasts any ceasefire. Oman's geographic, diplomatic, and strategic importance has thrust it to the centre of the conflict as the dispute evolves into a larger struggle for control of one of the world's most economically important maritime passages.