US President Donald Trump threatened military force against Oman on Wednesday if the Gulf state joins Iran in charging tolls on ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz, a waterway that handles roughly one fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supply.
Speaking at a cabinet meeting in Washington, Trump dismissed reports that Iran and Oman had discussed a framework to jointly manage and monetise passage through the strategic waterway. He insisted the United States would not accept any arrangement that places control of what he called international waters in foreign hands.
“Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we’ll have to blow them up,” he said. “They understand that. They’ll be fine.”
The State Department amplified the warning by sharing the clip and a transcript on social media, removing any doubt the threat was deliberate.
The remarks land at a delicate point in the aftermath of Operation Epic Fury, the US-Israel joint military campaign against Iran that opened on February 28 and was declared concluded by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on May 5. Despite the formal end of combat operations, the Strait of Hormuz remains a near-blockade, with Iran’s control of the waterway now the central obstacle to any lasting agreement.
Trump told the cabinet that if a negotiated settlement with Iran is not reached, he would have no choice but to “finish the job militarily.” He accused Iran of deliberately stalling, suggesting Tehran was waiting out the clock ahead of November’s US midterm elections.
Oman’s position is now acutely exposed. The sultanate has historically served as the primary back-channel between Washington and Tehran, and the country’s diplomatic standing made it a trusted mediator in the months before Operation Epic Fury. American and Iranian negotiators are currently working toward a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would reopen the strait to international shipping without tolls, while buying time to resolve the question of Iran’s highly enriched uranium stockpiles.
Trump’s threat pits that mediator role directly against Washington’s patience, placing Oman, a longstanding US ally, between its traditional function as a neutral diplomatic bridge and a president who is making clear the bridge has a limit.
