When conservative, energy-producing Arab states like Oman talk like this, it means profound changes are either underway or are being assessed.
Someone in the US State Department should translate this X note into language that is understood by the knuckleheads in Washington who shape US Mideast policy.
Translated from Arabic
Unprecedented statements by the Omani Foreign Ministe:
The actual goal of the war is to weaken Iran, reshape the region, and push forward the normalization file, within a broader context that also involves attempts to prevent the establishment of the Palestinian state, and to weaken every state or institution that stands alongside the project to establish the Palestinian state or supports it.
Oman will not join the Peace Council .. and will not normalize relations with Israel.
The American and Israeli attacks on Iran are a new episode in a dangerous series of violations witnessed in recent years, threatening to inflict damage on the legal framework that has provided protection and stability for the region’s countries for decades.
There is a plan targeting the region, and Iran is not the only target in it, with many regional parties aware of this, but they are betting that accommodating the United States may push it to modify its decisions and orientations.
The Sultanate of Oman continues to seek an end to the war and to prepare the ways for a return to diplomacy, because the continuation of the conflict does not serve Oman’s vital interests, nor those of its regional surroundings, nor even the interests of the Americans themselves.
The global economy will pay the price for that through rising oil prices and increasing disruptions in supply chains.
I expect the war to stop soon, but it is necessary to prepare for the worst possibilities.
I call for a reconsideration of the Gulf defense philosophy, and there is a growing public discussion in the region about the effectiveness of some of the security arrangements in place.
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