How Oman offers a glimpse into the post-war Gulf

How Oman offers a glimpse into the post-war Gulf US President Donald Trump threatened to attack just one Arab Gulf country during the war on Iran: Oman. Now, it is emerging as the biggest winner from a new Middle East order being hashed out by the US and the Islamic Republic. That assessment may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but due to its geography, business acumen, and Tehran’s newly demonstrated heft in the region, western, Arab, and even some US diplomats see the new order unfurling with Oman on top. Oman’s rapid turn of fortune also underscores a bigger shift in the Middle East, some analysts say. In the war’s early days, when other Gulf states opened their military bases to the US and joined the attack on Iran, Oman was called an outlier among its neighbours because of its criticism of the US and its reluctance to enter the fray. But Muscat's decision has been vindicated by a ceasefire that is widely viewed as a victory for Iran in the Gulf. “Oman’s position, which was always conciliatory to Iran, has now become the approach of other Gulf countries,” Bernard Haykel, a scholar of Middle Eastern studies and professor at Princeton University, told Middle East Eye. Read more: 'From outlier to trailblazer': How Oman offers a glimpse into the post-war Gulf

US President Donald Trump threatened to attack just one Arab Gulf country during the war on Iran: Oman. Now, it is emerging as the biggest winner from a new Middle East order being hashed out by the US and the Islamic Republic.

That assessment may seem counterintuitive at first glance, but due to its geography, business acumen, and Tehran’s newly demonstrated heft in the region, western, Arab, and even some US diplomats see the new order unfurling with Oman on top.

Oman’s rapid turn of fortune also underscores a bigger shift in the Middle East, some analysts say.

In the war’s early days, when other Gulf states opened their military bases to the US and joined the attack on Iran, Oman was called an outlier among its neighbours because of its criticism of the US and its reluctance to enter the fray.

But Muscat's decision has been vindicated by a ceasefire that is widely viewed as a victory for Iran in the Gulf.

“Oman’s position, which was always conciliatory to Iran, has now become the approach of other Gulf countries,” Bernard Haykel, a scholar of Middle Eastern studies and professor at Princeton University, told Middle East Eye.