Oman’s foreign minister has claimed the United States “lost control of its own foreign policy” and accused Israel of persuading Donald Trump’s administration to go to war with Iran, describing the conflict as a “catastrophe” and a “grave miscalculation”. Writing in the Economist, Badr Albusaidi, who mediated the latest nuclear talks between Iran and the US, offered an unusually damning assessment of events leading up to the US and Israel’s bombing of Iran.
Albusaidi wrote that it was “a shock but not a surprise” when, just hours after the most substantive talks in February, Israel and America launched an unlawful military strike against the peace that had briefly appeared possible. According to Albusaidi, Iran and the US had been on the “verge of a real deal” in nuclear negotiations held in Geneva, describing the talks as “substantive”. The UK’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, who attended the final stages, was reportedly surprised at the significant progress towards a permanent nuclear deal, judging it enough to halt a war.
The US negotiating team consisted of Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who reportedly brought no experts. Sources said Iran had agreed to significant concessions, including a reduction and pause on uranium enrichment, and offered the US participation in a future civil nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief and unfrozen assets. A final phase of negotiations was planned for Vienna, but 48 hours later, the US and Israel began their strikes on Iran.
Albusaidi blamed “Israel’s leadership” for persuading Trump to join the war on the false basis that Iran’s regime would offer an “unconditional surrender” after the assassination of its supreme leader Ali Khamenei. He wrote: “The American administration’s greatest miscalculation, of course, was allowing itself to be drawn into this war in the first place. This is not America’s war, and there is no likely scenario in which both Israel and America will get what they want from it.”
Late on Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied dragging the US into the conflict, telling reporters: “Does anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?” Albusaidi called for an end to the conflict and a return to bilateral negotiations, arguing that achieving Israel’s stated objective would require a long military campaign with US troops on the ground, opening a new front in the forever wars Trump vowed to end.
Oman has stood out from other Gulf states in its increasing willingness to condemn the US, accusing it of being a proxy for Israeli interests. Albusaidi said the US was intent on causing irreversible damage to international law and helping Israel re-order the Middle East to its own benefit, adding: “Oman’s view is that the military attacks against Iran by the United States and Israel are illegal and that for as long as they continue to pursue hostilities, those states that launched this war are in breach of international law.”
