US President Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Oman if the Gulf country interferes with Washington’s efforts to reach a deal with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump made the threat on Monday during an interview with Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst, amid separate talks between Oman and Iran over arrangements for navigation through the strategic waterway.
Oman has been locked in talks with Tehran over the Strait of Hormuz to reopen the strategically critical waterway to commercial transit, as the U.S. maintains its blockade of Iranian ports.
Iran has continued to deny any direct negotiations with the U.S. Trump said on Monday that informal talks are taking place with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, but insisted the U.S. is in no rush to make a deal.
“They’re good poker players, but they’re dying,” Trump told Fox News, referring to the influential Iranian military branch. “I have no time schedule. I’m not in a hurry.”
He added: “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s— out of them.”
Also on Monday, Trump reiterated the U.S. stance that Iran must agree to give up on possessing nuclear weapons.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
It came after shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz slowed to a halt over the weekend ahead of the expiry date of the 60-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran on Monday, with no official negotiations or deal in sight.
Over the weekend, only five cargo ships passed through the critical oil passage on Saturday, according to data from Kpler cited by Reuters, while no ships were registered to pass through the passage on Sunday. This is compared with 31 vessels the previous weekend.
