Muscat, a safe channel for Tehran
By Hassan Danaei Fard
Regional affairs expert
Since a year ago, there have been signs of West Asian countries moving toward peaceful coexistence. Now, rumors have come true and we are witnessing significant developments that surpass even our previous expectations.
The most important positive development was Tehran and Riyadh’s move to normalize relations, which, of course, brought about other pleasant events. The other important development was the return of Syria to the Arab League.
These two developments, which were linked to one another, conveyed the critical message that the countries of the region have recognized the necessity of having regional cooperation and transforming their confrontational approach to an interactive one. It also indicated that if countries outside the region were to diminish or stop their meddling, regional countries would be quite able to find peaceful ways to solve their disputes through dialogue and mutual respect.
The visit of the Sultan of Omani to Iran has taken place within this context, a year after the Iranian president visited Muscat. One can also look at the sultan’s visit in light of bilateral cooperation between Iran and Oman, regional and international developments.
In terms of bilateral ties, Tehran and Muscat have always had amicable relations, showing a kind of mutual trust. Even under the sanctions and the maximum pressure policy of the United States against Iran, the route that Iran-Oman political and trade ties were taking was defendable. During President Raeisi’s visit to Muscat last year, 12 cooperation deals were signed, which are predicted to be followed by a number of new deals in the ongoing talks. As a result, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s trip to Tehran will accelerate the development of bilateral political and trade ties.
Within the context of regional developments, it seems that Oman is continuing to play its role as a safe channel between Iran and its regional countries. As media outlets of the region predicted in recent days, the Sultan of Oman, who visited Egypt a few days earlier, will most likely facilitate the normalization of relations between Tehran and Cairo.
Looking at the visit from an international perspective, it doesn’t seem far-fetched that Haitham bin Tariq is carrying a new message or initiative for resuming the JCPOA talks. Oman is among the few countries in the region that has had a positive outlook toward the nuclear deal from the beginning and always acted as a proper mediator between Iran and Western countries, especially the U.S. Now that the regional developments and Iran’s nuclear activities have given Iran a better footing compared to a year ago, it seems that the groundwork has been laid for resuming nuclear talks and reviving the JCPOA. So, it is expected that as a result of the Sultan of Oman’s visit to Iran, both the Tehran-Cairo relations and the revival of the JCPOA would show considerable progress.