Oman’s territorial waters on the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz is also rendered impassable due to Iranian threats. Since Oman is not a party to this conflict, are they just okay with Iran declaring the entire strait closed and threatening to shell ships passing even through Omani territorial waters?
There’s been endless complaining on the world stage from the United States about the strait being closed, but I haven’t seen anything from Omani officials yet.
Oman seems to be working extra hard to not poke either of the bears fighting in close proximity to them.
Looks like a very sensible policy to me.
Iran is shooting at them anyway, so maybe not so sensible.
Even more sensible. It can always be worse.
Yeah, Iran could make a nuke.
The USA already has them. And Oman does not, and can not get them within a reasonable time frame.
So the winning move is to let the others slug it out, even if they get hit. They don’t have enough power to act up.
As I recall, the part of the strait that large tankers can actually use is very narrow. As a result, the tankers have to navigate the strait slowly and they are easy to intercept.
On top of that, Iran has several islands in perfect position to be used as naval bases. So, they can go out and put patrol boats (smaller, so not limited in where they can navigate, and well armed) in the way of ships, and threaten to sink them if they disobey orders to go no further.
As to why Oman doesn’t object, I can only assume that Oman doesn’t have enough naval power of its own to put up a serious fight against Iran. So, when the Iranians come and threaten tankers, whether it’s in international waters or Omani waters, Oman probably can’t do much about it.
Oman gain nothing from the ships passing through the straight right now.
However if Iran gets its way and toll the ships there would be some money flowing toward Oman.
If I am Oman, I don’t see why I would fight against that
They might care about the sovereignty of their country and don’t want to be a colony of Iran.
Iran did shoot at ships in Omani territorial waters and hit their port in their latest attack.
You must be American if you think countries only care about money.
Imagine 2 bullies bigger than you hitting each other non stop. Would you
- demand that they stop because they’re ruining your grass? or
- get out of sight and let them have a go at each other
Oman rn
To put it simply, Iran is run by Russian alliances. Everywhere else is American influenced/overruled.
