The diplomatic breakthrough that brought Iran and the United States closer together last year after decades of enmity may never have happened without the mediation of a sparsely populated desert monarchy: Oman.

Strategically located at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, the sleepy sultanate has long served as a discrete backchannel between the Sunni Gulf states and their Iranian rival. The bitterly contested Iran nuclear deal, however, has elevated the country’s profile, encouraging it to play an increasingly active role in efforts to stop the violence in Yemen and Syria.

Now Muscat is banking on the Barack Obama administration’s gratitude and the personal friendship between the ailing Sultan Qaboos bin Said and Secretary of State John Kerry to weather any potential fallout from its diplomatic leadership. Also assisting: an ambassador who has been in place for more than a decade and a recently renovated cultural center just down the street from the White House.

“In a post-Iran agreement environment, I think that Oman is not as able to be as quiet a broker as it used to be,” said Sigurd Neubauer, an Oman expert with the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “Oman is in a good space in terms of how it has been able to position itself in Washington; at the same time, Oman is not immune to regional rivalry. And by not taking a position on many of the contentious issues in the region, Oman could be accused — or is already accused — of siding with Iran, and that’s something that the Omanis will go to great lengths to avoid.”