*Nigeria Impacted By Continued Closure Of Strait
United States (US) President Donald Trump has threatened to “blow up” Oman if it fails to “behave”.
He spoke in a casual aside during a cabinet meeting, Wednesday, as the US scrambled to reopen the Strait of Hormuz shut by Iran.
The President made the threat after reports of talks between Iran and Oman about jointly charging a toll for ships passing through the crucial waterway, which has been all but closed since the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.
After Tehran shut the vital waterway, it reportedly resorted to charging, for a brief period, at least $1m per ship using the international route which is located close to its geographical borders.
In addition to Oman’s decades-long military and economic ties with the US, the Gulf nation of 5.3 million people has played a mediation role in the war and has itself come under attack from Tehran.
“The Strait is going to be open to everybody,” Trump declared. “Nobody’s going to control it. We’re going to watch over it. We’ll watch over it. But nobody’s going to control it. That’s part of the negotiation that we have.”
The Strait – which typically carries about a fifth of the world’s oil supplies – has been blockaded by Iran since late February, triggering a global energy crisis which, in Nigeria, for instance, has led to higher prices for petrol and gas, worsening a cost-of-living bedlam for an outraged populace, with a litre of petrol,in some filling stations in the country, going for about N1500.
Tehran wants to persuade Oman to support a mechanism to collect tolls from vessels transiting through the Strait, the Associated Press(AP) has reported in recent days, citing a regional official.
“They would like to control it,” said Trump, who stressed the Strait is part of international waters.
In an extraordinary threat, he added: “Oman will behave just like everybody else. Or else we’ll have to blow them up. They understand that. They’ll be fine.”
Iran Responds, Says Trump’s Threats Are ‘Dangerous’, ‘Bullying’
Reacting to the US threats, Iran, in a statement from its Foreign Ministry, fumed.
Ministry spokesperson, Esmail Baghaei, described the threats as “dangerous” and “bullying”.
He was quoted as saying: “Threats to “destroy” a United Nations member state that has always played a constructive, effective, and responsible role in regional peace and security and has used its noble efforts in the service of regional peace and stability as a mediator in diplomatic processes for many years are not only a violation of the fundamental principle of prohibiting the threat of the use of force, but also another dangerous sign of the normalisation of lawlessness and bullying in international relations.”
