President Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman, accusing the tiny Gulf nation of standing in the way of an Iran nuclear deal.
"I don't think they behaved very well, but we'd handle them very easily just like we do others," he told reporters, without specifying what Oman had actually done. But inside his own administration, the Wall Street Journal reported, officials increasingly suspect the Middle Eastern nation was chosen more for convenience than cause.
Oman, which borders the Strait of Hormuz, has been negotiating directly with Iran to allow more commercial traffic through the waterway. U.S. officials say those talks are progressing and could ease pressure on global energy prices.
"Some senior aides privately accuse Oman of being a duplicitous actor that largely sides with Iran instead of seeking the best possible deal between Washington and Tehran," officials told the Journal. "Others say Oman’s longstanding ties to Iran are a boon to the mediation process. Those officials assert that Trump is scapegoating Oman as he seeks others to blame for struggling to complete a nuclear deal."
Trump has repeatedly turned his frustration outward onto allies rather than acknowledge the deal's stalled state. On Sunday, he cut a joint U.S.-South Korea military drill after Seoul declined to help reopen Hormuz, recounting a testy exchange with President Lee Jae Myung about America's 39,000 troops stationed there.
He has also complained that the U.K. and Spain haven't done enough, an extension of his long-running gripe that allies take more than they give.
Relations with Oman had already been deteriorating for months. The administration previously threatened sanctions and even strikes after intelligence assessments claimed Oman planned to let Iran impose tolls on Hormuz shipping, allegations the sultanate has repeatedly denied.
Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who helped mediate earlier U.S.-Iran talks, has publicly criticized the decision to go to war, writing in March that "whatever your view of Iran, this war is not of their making."
