Is Oman’s foreign minister about to deliver Iran’s message to the West?

Tabnak – Oman’s Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi is at an official visit to Tehran today, meeting Iranian high-ranking officials and discussing issues of bilateral interests. As always, it appears that the presence of an Omani official in Iran is also about transferring some messages between Iran and the West.

In this vein, in his meeting with bin Alawi, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani signaled a clear alarm toward the European Union regarding its possible decision to follow the US lead in increasing pressures on Iran.

Shamkhani cautioned European countries to avoid playing into the hands of the US and the Zionist regime of Israel and not approve their plans under the pretext of maintaining the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA).

“The Islamic Republic of Iran’s defense capabilities, particularly the missile program which is deterrent in nature, will continue in earnest as a necessity for national security,” Shamkhani added, stressing that political and media propaganda campaigns would never affect Iran’s defense strategies.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Shamkhani said Iran will give an appropriate and timely response to the repeated violations of the JCPOA by Washington, rejecting any change or revision of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany).

It should be noted that the scheduled meeting between bin Alawi and his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif was cancelled due to Zarif’s illness. Arriving in Tehran, the Omani minister in a phone call wished good health for Zarif.

However, according to the Iranian foreign ministry, Zarif's Omani counterpart who, heading a politico-economic delegation is in Tehran, was officially received by Iranian officials, including the Majlis (parliament) speaker, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and the governor of Iran's Central Bank and that the parties have held constructive talks.

Iran and Oman share age-old and close diplomatic, economic, and parliamentary ties. Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said played an important role in facilitating the early stages of nuclear talks between Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany), which led to the landmark nuclear deal known as the JCPOA in July 2015.

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi on Saturday rejected speculation about a link between the Omani minister's visit to Tehran and US Defense Secretary James Mattis's recent travel to Muscat and said bin Alawi's trip was taking place with the purpose of strengthening mutual relations.

"Although Oman has very good relations with many countries in the world, Mr. Yusuf bin Alawi's trip to Tehran has nothing to do with Mattis's visit to this country," Qassemi said.

Nonetheless, given the content of bin Alawi’s meeting with Shamkhani, the visit might work as an attempt to create a channel for delivering Iran’s message to the West that Tehran is not about to make any new compromises under pressure.