Iran war: Oman stuck between Trump and Tehran

On Wednesday evening, US President Donald Trump said if Oman were to attempt to control the Strait of Hormuz in conjunction with Iran, the US would launch a military strike against the country at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

He was responding to a report by Iranian state television claiming that an unofficial draft agreement existed to restore shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz . The draft reportedly called for Iran and Oman to jointly regulate traffic in the waterway.

"Oman will behave like everyone else, or we'll have to blow them up," Trump told reporters when asked if he would accept such an agreement.

The unusually harsh threat is directed at a country that has long been regarded as a mediator in the Middle East.

"Oman has traditionally played a mediating role between the Arab Gulf states and Iran," Marcus Schneider, head of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation's Regional Project for Peace and Security in the Middle East in Beirut, told DW.

Among the Gulf states, Oman has always maintained the closest ties with Tehran.

Stefan Lukas, founder of the analysis firm Middle East Minds, sees this as what makes the country unique. "Oman is one of the few remaining countries in the region that still maintains relatively stable relations with nearly all parties to the conflict," Lukas told DW.

With its location on the southern side of the Strait of Hormuz, Oman plays a key role in the current conflict .