In a moment that shocked diplomats and allies alike, President Trump threatened to “blow up” Oman during a White House cabinet meeting on May 27th — a country the U.S. has maintained diplomatic ties with for over 200 years.
The flashpoint: the Strait of Hormuz. When a reporter asked whether Trump would accept a deal giving Oman and Iran shared oversight of the strategic waterway, Trump was blunt. “Nobody is going to control it,” he said. “It’s international waters, and Oman will behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
The Strait of Hormuz is one of the most critical chokepoints on the planet — over 20% of the world’s oil passes through it daily. Oman, which sits along the strait’s southern shore, had reportedly been in talks with Iran about helping to manage passage through the waterway amid ongoing U.S.-Iran tensions.
What made the moment even more striking: the State Department didn’t walk it back. Instead, officials amplified the threat on social media — making clear this wasn’t a slip of the tongue or a misstatement. Trump appeared to mean Oman, not Iran.
The comment raises major questions about U.S. foreign policy at one of the most volatile moments in the Middle East in years. Threatening a long-standing ally while simultaneously waging a shadow war with Iran is a tightrope — and one that just got a lot narrower.