Oman: US has lost control of Iran policy

Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi has criticised the United States for its actions towards Iran, MEM reports, saying Washington has lost control of its own foreign policy.

In comments to The Economist, he said the US and Iran had been close to reaching an agreement, but that the situation was fundamentally altered by joint US–Israeli attacks on 28 February, which came just hours after key negotiations. He described the move as a shock, but not a surprise.

‘This is not an American war and there is no likely scenario in which both Israel and America will achieve what they expect from it,’ he said.

He added that ‘the Israeli leadership had apparently convinced America that Iran had been so weakened by sanctions, internal divisions and the US–Israeli bombing of its nuclear facilities last June that an initial attack and assassination of the supreme leader would be quickly followed by unconditional surrender’.

Al-Busaidi said achieving that goal would require a prolonged military campaign and possibly the deployment of US ground forces. Such a scenario, he added, is rejected not only by the US government but also by the public.

(pir)