A recent military agreement between Washington and Muscat allowing US forces to use the strategic Omani ports of Duqm and Salalah has been widely interpreted in the context of American pressure on its archenemy Iran. Yet many are wondering why Iran has not reacted to the deal.
Access to the two ports, especially the port of Duqm, has been a goal to pursue for the United States in order to advance its strategies in the Indo-Pacific, an area where Washington and Tehran are not in a confrontational posture. Interests of the two sides may even occasionally converge there.
US-Iran strategic rivalry has shaped and continued to grow mainly over land and not maritime targets. Thus, confrontations between the two sides in the Persian Gulf and the north of the Indian Ocean have been but limited. Meanwhile, in the process of reimposing sanctions on Iran, the Trump administration has focused on demand by pressing Iran's oil customers, rather than on supply and disrupting the transfer of Iranian crude in maritime lanes.
Tehran, on the other hand, made only immediate threats to shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a pressure tool it is no longer resorting to. Both Iran and the United States understand the risks arising from hostility in the strategic strait, including the disruption of a daily transfer of 17 million barrels of crude. The two have, therefore, exercised extreme cautiousness in their Persian Gulf strategic competition in recent decades.
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