President Donald Trump on Monday threatened possible military action against Oman over the Gulf state’s negotiations with Iran concerning the Strait of Hormuz, escalating pressure on Muscat despite previous U.S. support for its diplomatic role in the region.
Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst said he asked Trump about talks between Oman and Iran over the strategic waterway.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump said, according to Yingst.
The comments marked the latest warning from the president regarding Oman’s involvement in negotiations over control and access to the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump previously threatened Oman in May after reports surfaced that Muscat could support an agreement giving Iran a role in jointly managing the waterway. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also warned at the time that the United States could impose additional sanctions on Oman if the country participated in a tolling system for ships passing through the strait.
Iran has said it reached an understanding with Oman regarding the waterway, but Iranian officials have also said the agreement would not result in a full reopening of the strait unless the United States ends its blockade of Iranian ports and meets other commitments Tehran says were included in the U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding.
That agreement officially expired Monday.
Trump also used the interview to demand that Iran surrender and said he was not operating under a specific timetable for ending the confrontation.
“I have no time schedule,” Trump said. “I’m not in a hurry. The midterms have nothing to do with my thinking.”
He also said Iran should “put up the white flag of surrender.”
The Trump administration has increasingly emphasized economic pressure against Tehran, including sanctions and continued restrictions on Iranian shipping and ports.
Iranian officials, however, have warned that they do not intend to accept the current situation indefinitely.
“The enemy should know that it cannot catch us off guard,” Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani, political deputy of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said Monday, according to PressTV. “Instead, it is the enemy that must anticipate strategic surprises.”
Oman has traditionally played a mediating role between Iran and Western governments and has hosted or facilitated negotiations between Washington and Tehran on several occasions.
Trump’s latest remarks add uncertainty to those diplomatic efforts and raise the possibility of further tensions between Washington and Muscat as negotiations over the Strait of Hormuz continue.
