President Donald Trump threatened Monday to bomb Oman if the U.S. ally interferes with Washington’s dealings with Iran even as Oman works with Tehran on reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s–t out of them,” Trump told Fox News reporter Trey Yingst in a telephone interview.
The threat came as the 60-day deadline for a U.S.-Iran peace deal passed with little left of the agreement that Trump and Iranian leaders signed in June. Iran, however, said Monday that it and Oman had reached an understanding on a shipping route through the strait and were working toward a final agreement.
At the same time, intelligence described to The Wall Street Journal suggested Iran’s hard-line leadership has spent much of the past two months preparing for the possibility that the war will grow rather than end.
Arab intelligence officials told the Journal that communications involving Iran and allied militias point to preparations for a broader regional fight. Officials familiar with the findings said Tehran is positioning itself to inflict greater costs on the U.S. and its regional allies if the conflict expands.
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A deal that quickly unraveled
Trump signed the memorandum of understanding with Iran on June 17 at Versailles. The deal offered Iran sanctions waivers allowing it to sell oil, access to billions of dollars in frozen funds and the prospect of a $300 billion reconstruction fund.
Iran, in turn, was expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and negotiate in good faith over its nuclear program.
That arrangement did not last long.
By early July, Iran was firing on vessels traveling along a U.S.-overseen route near Oman that was meant to move ships around Tehran’s control of the strait. The U.S. struck Iran in response. Tehran then attacked countries hosting American forces, including Jordan, Kuwait and Bahrain. Washington also canceled sanctions waivers issued under the agreement and restored its blockade of Iranian ports.
Both governments blamed the other for breaking the deal.
Now, two months later, traffic through Hormuz remains far below prewar levels, when Iran did not assert control of the waterway. Further, there is no sign that detailed nuclear negotiations have begun.
Iran prepares for a longer fight
While diplomats remained in contact, Iran’s security leadership was moving in another direction.
Iranian and Arab officials told the Journal that hard-line leaders in Tehran suspected the June agreement could simply give the U.S. and Israel more time before launching another major attack.
Iran responded by strengthening its military and defensive positions. The nation increased missile and drone production, expanded domestic counterintelligence and moved veteran security figures into key positions. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps also gained more influence over Iran’s regular military.
The preparations reached beyond Iran.
Arab intelligence officials said they had picked up communications linking Iran with allied militias in Yemen and Iraq. The findings indicated Tehran was preparing those groups for a larger role if the fighting spreads.
The conflict moves beyond Iran
Some of that escalation has already played out across the region.
Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen have attacked Saudi ships and threatened traffic through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a Red Sea route that Saudi Arabia has used to move oil while Hormuz remains restricted. Saudi Arabia has also accused Iran-backed militias in Iraq of launching drone attacks on its oil facilities.
The Revolutionary Guard has warned Gulf governments that their energy infrastructure could become targets if the U.S. strikes similar facilities inside Iran, according to the Journal. U.S. forces have also been hit.
Iran fired five ballistic missiles at Jordan during a lull in the conflict. Two weeks earlier, another Iranian strike there killed three U.S. service members.
Hormuz remains at the center
The Strait of Hormuz remains at the center of the standoff.
Before the war, about one-fifth of the world’s traded oil and gas passed through the narrow waterway.
The June deal called for shipping to resume but gave Iran a loosely defined role in facilitating traffic. Tehran has used that language to argue that it should oversee passage through the strait and could potentially collect fees — even though it did not control the waterway before the war began in late February.
Iran has also demanded that Washington lift its blockade, pull U.S. forces back from around the country and pay reparations for war damage.
Trump has rejected those demands and has said the U.S., not Iran, controls the strait.
Neither side has backed down.
Trump turns back to the nuclear issue
As the deadline for a peace deal passed Monday, Trump returned publicly to the issue that was supposed to anchor the broader negotiations.
“The number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
The risks are also mounting. The Associated Press reported that another major escalation could further strain U.S. supplies of advanced missile interceptors and put additional pressure on global energy markets.