In the latest Iranian strike on the Sultanate of Oman, two people were killed and a dozen injured. Oman’s state news agency quoted a security source saying that on “Friday morning one of the drones hit the Al-Awahi industrial area, killing two foreign nationals and injuring others.” The two casualties are thought to be Indian nationals, according to Indian media reports.
The drone attack, which targeted the port of Sohar, is not the first Iranian strike on Omani targets since the war started at the end of February. Last week, another Iranian drone strike hit fuel tanks in Salalah Port. Earlier, another strike targeted Duqm Port in the southwest. Iran has officially denied targeting Omani fuel tanks, but as Iranian missiles and drones are targeting the rest of the Gulf states, the denial seems irrelevant. Though the UAE, along with Kuwait and Bahrain, receive the bulk of Iranian attacks, other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar have also absorbed damaged.
Iran insists that it targets American military bases and other American interests on the west flank of the Gulf, which it claims are being used to launch American-Israeli attacks on the country. Just days into the war, and after the first strike inside Oman, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a TV interview that his country won’t attack Oman, providing the extraordinary explanation that first hit may have been a military unit “executing older plans”. That raised concerns about the breakdown of the chain of command in Iran, especially as the first waves of American and Israeli attacks targeted the Iranian leadership including senior military commanders. But as the missile and drone strikes on GCC countries continued along with strikes on Israel, it is unlikely that the excuse that it happened by mistake can stand.
Sultan of Oman Haitham bin Tariq was one of few leaders, and the only Gulf leader, to congratulate Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on the election of a new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Diplomatic statements by Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi are always critical of the war on Iran by Israel and US. In a post on his X account last week, Al-Busaidi wrote: “Both regional and US interests will truly be best served by a ceasefire now and a return to diplomacy as soon as possible. The economic damage and potential for humanitarian catastrophe are unsustainable.” In another post he stressed the Omani position on this war: “Our neutrality stands for the cause of peace: the cornerstone of our national security and our unique gift to the world.”
Oman has been playing the role of an “honest broker” for a long time. It was the main player in the secret negotiations between Tehran in Washington that led to the 2015 nuclear deal under the Obama administration. Since President Trump withdrew from the deal during his first term in 2018, Oman has been trying to salvage the deal. The quiet diplomacy worked during Trump’s second term, and talks hosted by the Omanis resumed last year before they were interrupted by Israel, later joined by the US, attacking Iran in June. Just before this war erupted, Oman was active in mediating new rounds of American-Iranian talks that collapsed following the Israeli and American attacks. Even during the early days of the war, in early March, Oman criticised the joint US-Israel strikes on Iran and told Washington, “this is not your war.” It warned that the attacks had undermined ongoing diplomatic efforts.
Some commentators think that the Iranian strikes on Omani targets are no different from other attacks across the Gulf. There might not be significant American military presence in Oman, but some reports mentioned a refuelling station in the Sultanate being used by American jets in the region. Gulf analysts refer to the fact that the Iranian government, including the president, might not have too much power over the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The latter is thought to be behind widening the scope of the war to include GCC countries besides Israel. But Oman is not among those GCC countries that normalised relations with Israel in what is known as the Abraham Accords in 2020, and the Omani leadership has always made it clear that there will be “no relationship with Israel unless Palestinians gain their rights.”
The most far-fetched explanation of attacks on Oman came from a person the Iran-affiliated Lebanese TV channel described as a “senior Iranian security official”. The source accused Israel of orchestrating a false flag operation in Oman, claiming the attack “was designed to inflame tensions between Tehran and the Gulf states and undermine regional diplomacy”. He added that recent attacks targeting fuel storage facilities in the Omani port city of Salalah “were carried out as part of a broader Israeli strategy to destabilise the region”. The Iranian official said his country “had obtained accurate intelligence indicating that Israel was responsible for the operation”. Despite being caught in the cross-fire, Oman has maintained its neutral position. Since the start of the war, the airspace of almost all GCC countries has been partially closed. As tourists, expats and businesspeople tried to leave the UAE, they travelled by land to Oman, where Muscat Airport remains fully operational. Around a hundred thousand foreigners, hailing mainly from Dubai, were evacuated through Oman, and bookings on the Omani national carrier more than trebled.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 19 March, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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