Oman's Foreign Minister Urges US to Stop Iran War

US military/ILLUSTRATIVE PHOTOI via Instagram @uscentcom

JAKARTA - Oman Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi urged the United States allies to help free Washington from "undesirable" involvement in the Iran conflict because US foreign policy is now out of control.

In his writing in The Economist, Thursday, March 19, Albusaidi, a mediator in indirect nuclear negotiations between Washington and Tehran, said the US had made "the biggest miscalculation" by getting involved in the conflict.

"This is not an American war," he wrote, adding that there was no realistic scenario for Israel and the US to achieve their goals.

He warned that Israel's ambition to overthrow the Iranian government would require a prolonged ground campaign, opening a new front in an endless conflict that President Donald Trump had previously promised to stop.

Albusaidi called on Washington to act, saying the move required an acknowledgment of the extent to which the US had lost control over its own foreign policy.

He described the potential for Iranian retaliation against the Gulf state hosting the US base as an "inevitable, albeit regrettable" response to a war designed to end it.

According to him, this response could be the only rational choice for the Iranian leadership in the face of increasing military pressure.

Albusaidi also highlighted the shipping disruption in the Strait of Hormuz as a predictable consequence and potentially driving global energy prices higher.

He warned that the impact could trigger a sharp economic slowdown or even a recession in various regions.

"If this is not anticipated by the war planners, then it is a serious miscalculation," he wrote.

Regarding diplomacy, Albusaidi is pessimistic given that it will be very difficult for Iran to return to negotiations with parties who repeatedly switch from negotiations to military action.

However, he assessed that the way out of the conflict would likely still have to be through the resumption of negotiations between the parties concerned.

The joint US-Israeli attack on Iran reportedly began on February 28 and has killed about 1,300 people. Among the victims of the US and Israeli attacks was Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.