Trump threatens to bomb Oman if...

Donald Trump threatened on Monday to bomb Oman if the country stood "in the way" of an agreement on the Strait of Hormuz, with Muscat and Tehran having been conducting discussions for weeks without Washington on this strategic maritime passage.

"If Oman gets in our way, we'll bomb their faces," the US president told Fox News journalist Trey Yingst, according to his post on X, in response to a question about ongoing exchanges between the two countries.

The American president has become accustomed to making sensational statements that have no follow-up since the beginning of the conflict with Iran at the end of February.

Iranian and Omani officials have been discussing for several weeks to reach an agreement on the movement of ships through the strait, which passes between the coasts of the two countries and saw about a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons pass through before the war.

Cultivating a position of neutrality in a particularly tense region, the Sultanate of Oman has played or is playing a mediating role in several conflicts, from Iran to Yemen.

Faced with these heightened tensions, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke by telephone with his American counterpart to stress the importance of fully utilizing diplomacy, reaffirming that Turkey would continue to support peace efforts.

"I think that, ultimately, his threats against Oman are simply a reflection of his frustration with the situation he created, in which he has no good options," said Nate Swanson of the Atlantic Council's Iran Strategy Project, quoted by the New York Times. "He's simply reacting reflexively, and this time, Oman has found itself in the crosshairs."

During the Asian session, oil continued its rise in the face of these threats: at 02:30 GMT, the barrel of North American WTI was up 0.6% at $84.99, while that of Brent from the North Sea, the world reference, was up 0.4% at $91.22.

- Not "much confidence" -

Tehran has been sealing off the Strait of Hormuz almost continuously since the Israeli-American attack that triggered the war in the Middle East.

In response, the United States imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.

Donald Trump keeps saying that the United States has "control" of this route, a claim that Tehran has called a "lie".

He notably said a few days ago that he would declare the Strait of Hormuz "US territory" once the war was won, although his tone suggested a joke.

"The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian and will remain Iranian. This strait will only be opened and closed on the orders of Iran," Tehran insisted this weekend.

"Talks between Iran and Oman are continuing in a serious manner," an Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday. "Exchanges of views are taking place on the text of the joint statement."

Washington and Tehran too: US envoy Jared Kushner described the discussions as "very positive and lively", although he conceded that there was "not much trust" between the two sides, who are nevertheless "very seriously" involved.

Donald Trump also called on Iran on Monday, speaking on Fox News, to "raise the white flag of surrender." "I'm not in a hurry," he added, stating that the midterm elections in November "do not change (his) thinking."

Trey Yingst, the Fox News reporter, also claims that Donald Trump acknowledged the existence of a direct line of communication between Washington and the Revolutionary Guards, Iran's powerful ideological army.