Washington has gained a little-known ally in its bid to win crucial Arab
support for curbing Iran's nuclear program: Oman, a small kingdom that
is expanding its role on the Middle East's diplomatic stage.
After playing a behind-the-scenes role in the Obama
administration's diplomatic overture to Iran, the Sultan of Oman and his
royal court are working to help sell the deal to skeptical Arab
governments, said U.S., Iranian and Arab officials. The Obama
administration is pressing to gain the support of its key Mideast
allies, particularly Saudi Arabia and Israel, for its Iran diplomacy,
but is facing strong resistance.
Senior U.S. officials have lauded Oman's support in the
effort. U.S. and Iranian officials said Oman has become a key promoter
of talks with Tehran, an initiative that is emerging as the signature
foreign-policy move of President Barack Obama's second term.
November's interim agreement between world powers and Tehran
seeks to curb the most advanced elements of Iran's nuclear program in
exchange for an easing of Western sanctions.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and some other Gulf
states have attacked the U.S. outreach to Iran and doubt it will deny
Tehran a nuclear weapon. They have pressed for additional steps to
isolate Tehran.
New details of Oman's efforts point to a central role for the
quiet kingdom, which has long been an anomaly among the largely Sunni
monarchies in the Persian Gulf because of its warm ties to Tehran.
Oman's ancient capital of Muscat has served as a setting for
meetings that have advanced the global diplomacy leading to November's
deal, U.S. and Iranian diplomats said.
Little understood is the extent to which Oman's monarch,
Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said, and his court's ministers and economic
officials have personally steered the U.S.-Iranian rapprochement.
Oman has publicly backed Washington's campaign of
rapprochement with Tehran and views the nuclear accord as providing a
rare opportunity to lessen tensions between Sunni monarchies and Iran,
said Arab and Iranian officials.
Responding to an American request, the 73-year-old Sultan
Qaboos has hosted secret meetings between senior American and Iranian
officials over the past two years in Muscat, said these officials.
"We believe we are in a historical phase around the world that
requires work to achieve peace and stability," Oman's minister for
foreign affairs, Yousif Bin Alawi, told Arab and Western defense
officials at a conference in Bahrain this month. "Based on that, we can
achieve sustainable development and progress."
The country's role has evolved beyond the nuclear file as it
positions itself as a salesman for the Iran diplomacy, its interests
spurred by regional geopolitics and economic self-interest.
The sultanate has long sought to build a pipeline bringing
Iranian gas to Oman, but the project has been blocked by American
sanctions on Tehran. Such a project could proceed if Washington eases
its financial pressure, and Oman could benefit from expanded trade
between the West and Iran.
Mideast watchers were stunned this month in Bahrain when Omani
officials vigorously opposed a Saudi drive to further consolidate the
defenses of the six Sunni monarchies in the Persian Gulf -- who make up a
body called the Gulf Cooperation Council -- in part, to better contain
Iran. The Omani officials countered that the countries shouldn't seek to
further militarize the region.
"It was the talk of the conference," said Emile Hokayem of the
International Institute for Strategic Studies, which organized the
event, known as the Manama Dialogue. "It showed Oman's willingness to
assert an autonomous regional policy, even if it conflicts with its
bigger neighbor."
Meanwhile, the sultan empowered one of his top economic
advisers, Salem ben Nasser al Ismaily, to broker the exchanges of
Iranians and Americans captured in their opposing government's dragnets,
said officials from those countries.
Mr. Ismaily, head of the Omani investment board, facilitated
the return beginning in late 2010 of three American hikers detained by
Iranian security forces on charges they were spies.
In April, the businessman, philanthropist and author also
helped broker the return of an Iranian scientist, Mojtaba Atarodi, who
was arrested in Los Angeles on charges he was purchasing equipment for
Tehran's nuclear program.
Iran's government had pressed Washington for the return of Mr. Atarodi for months, said Iranian and Arab officials.
"Oman has tried to play a positive role and to bridge
differences between the two sides," Iran's ambassador to France, Ali
Ahani, said this month.
Tehran and Washington have used Oman to relay messages after
diplomatic relations broke down following the 1979 Islamic revolution in
Tehran.
Aides to Sultan Qaboos said the British-educated monarch views
himself as a mediator between competing sides in the Middle East's
conflicts.
"He is an idealist in that to a significant extent his
policy-making is driven by ethical considerations," said a senior Arab
diplomat who has worked closely with Sultan Qaboos.
The Obama administration heightened Oman's role as an
intermediary in late 2011, in part because of the help it provided in
bringing home the American hikers, said senior U.S. officials.
Many Arab governments have vented at the Obama administration
for pursuing secret talks with Iran, and suggested that Washington and
Muscat operated behind their backs.
"We're very disappointed. . .that they went cheating on us with the Iranians," said a senior Arab diplomat.