Straddling the World

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The deputy ambassador of Oman to the US, Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti, recently made a nuanced argument about the violence and instability in the Middle East when he said folks should not conflate Zionism with Judaism.

“We must also be mindful of the dangerous confusion between Judaism as a religion and Zionism as a political ideology,” said Sabra Ahmed Al-Hooti, according to the Times of Israel. “This confusion actually fuels antisemitism and undermines efforts for peaceful resolutions to the conflict.”

Such comments illustrate why Oman has become a more important player in the Middle East in recent years, wrote World Politics Review.

Oman was once considered a potential new signatory to the Abraham Accords, which resulted in the Muslim-majority states of Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates recognizing Israel in 2020. Now, however, the civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip resulting from Israel’s devastating response to Hamas’ attacks on Oct. 7, 2023, have cooled that possibility.

Oman, like many countries around the world, has condemned Israel’s response and called for peace talks that should lead to an independent Palestinian state.

Still, as the Financial Times explained, Oman retains good relations with the US as well as Iran, Russia, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen who are fighting a war against the Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia and its allies, and occasionally disrupting commercial traffic in the Red Sea to protest against the Palestinians’ suffering. These ties make the country a unique conduit for diplomatic and economic efforts to change the region, even if that means engaging with the West’s rivals.

For example, Oman’s trade with Russia has increased by about 376 percent from $84 million in 2014 to $400 million in 2023, with 60 percent of that growth coming in 2022 and 2023 from Russian oil exports that contravene Western sanctions. These efforts have partially helped Oman’s economy flourish in recent years, according to an Omani statement published in the Korea Herald.

As the Tehran Times reported, Iranian officials are also eager to draw closer with Oman.

The war in Gaza is undoubtedly putting a lot of pressure on Oman to take sides between East and West, said Giorgio Cafiero of Gulf State Analytics, writing for the Stimson Center think tank. Omani officials have called on the US to condemn Israel, for example. They also feel that Israel is purposely stoking conflict between the US and Iran to maintain American assistance and diplomatic cover.

Cafiero added that Omani society increasingly appears to be in “growing solidarity with Tehran’s ‘axis of resistance’ against Israel” and the West, undermining its role as a bridge between the West and the Middle East, and threatening its economic growth.

“Oman’s leadership is pragmatic and likely to remain Western-oriented in terms of its own security,” he wrote. “China, Iran, or Russia is unlikely to replace the US or UK as Oman’s main sources of weapons and security guarantees. But the longer the Gaza war continues, the more challenging Muscat may find its traditional role of facilitating dialogue among adversaries.”