President Donald Trump escalated tensions with a key American partner on Monday, threatening to bomb Oman if the Gulf nation interferes with the ongoing U.S.-Iran conflict — a startling warning directed at a country that has quietly served as a diplomatic bridge between Washington and Tehran since the war began in February 2026.
Speaking in a Fox News interview, the 80-year-old president did not mince words when discussing the Gulf state’s role near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s–t out of them” — a threat that stunned foreign policy observers given Oman’s longstanding status as a U.S. ally and its active role as a backchannel intermediary in the conflict.
The president expanded on the threat during a separate Cabinet meeting, making clear he views the strait as subject to no outside authority. “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.”
A Fraught Moment at the 60-Day Mark
Monday’s remarks landed on a particularly charged day in the conflict’s diplomatic timeline. Trump had previously signed a memorandum of peace at Versailles that established an ambitious 60-day deadline for a broader peace agreement between the U.S. and Iran. Day 60 arrived Monday with no deal in sight and no sign the two sides were close to one.
Iran has kept the Strait of Hormuz closed since the conflict’s opening salvos, a move with severe global economic consequences. During peacetime, roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supply passes through the waterway. Before the conflict, more than 100 vessels crossed daily. On Monday, only eight vessels made the transit, and the previous day saw just 14 — numbers that underscore how thoroughly the closure has disrupted global energy flows.
Fox News host Bret Baier noted the disconnect between the administration’s public posture and the reality on the water, pointing out that despite Trump claiming full control over the strait, vessel traffic had dwindled to a fraction of its prewar levels.
Oman’s Delicate Diplomatic Role
Oman has historically played a quiet but consequential role in Middle Eastern diplomacy, and the current conflict is no exception. The sultanate has been working with Iran on ways to reopen the strait to commercial traffic, even as Washington has pushed to restore navigation through a strong naval presence led by the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Trump had already threatened Muscat with military action in May 2026 after it held discussions with Iran about regulating traffic flow through the strait. Monday’s comments mark a significant escalation of that rhetoric, directed squarely at a government that has been attempting to help end a war Trump started.
Although the Strait of Hormuz is classified as an international strait open to navigation, the bulk of its waters fall within Iranian and Omani territorial jurisdiction — a legal complexity that further complicates Washington’s position.
Strain on the USS Abraham Lincoln
The human cost of the prolonged campaign is also becoming harder to ignore. The USS Abraham Lincoln, the aircraft carrier anchoring U.S. naval operations in the region, is in its ninth month of deployment — a grueling stretch that has reportedly taken a toll on the crew. Family members of sailors aboard the vessel have suggested in published reports that some crew members have attempted to go overboard, pointing to deteriorating conditions on the ship.
Questions about the sustainability of the broader military campaign have also emerged. The Center for Strategic and International Studies has assessed that the U.S. has sufficient munitions to sustain the current conflict under all foreseeable conditions, though analysts at the think tank have flagged concerns that the pace of consumption could create shortages for future conflicts. Trump dismissed those concerns during his Fox News appearance, saying the weapons expended so far represent only a fraction of what is available.
A War Marked by High Drama
The conflict has already produced moments of extraordinary tension. On April 6, 2026, Trump held a White House news conference in which he described a harrowing rescue operation after two U.S. airmen ejected from a downed F-15E fighter jet and landed deep inside Iran. The rescue involved 155 aircraft in total — with the massive air operation comprising 64 fighter jets, four long-range bombers, 48 aerial refueling tankers, and 13 search-and-rescue aircraft — deployed over a mission that stretched across a long weekend.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted the religious symmetry of the timeline: the airman was shot down on Good Friday, spent the night hidden in a cave, and was rescued on Easter Sunday. CIA Director John Ratcliffe described the intelligence effort required to locate the downed officer as comparable, in his words, to searching for one tiny speck of sand in the vastness of a desert. A coordination call among military and intelligence officials ran for 45 hours and 56 minutes without interruption.
At that same April news conference, Trump vowed to obliterate Iran’s power plants and bridges if no agreement to end the war and reopen the strait was reached — a threat that now hangs over the collapsed 60-day peace deadline. With Monday’s warning against Oman added to that list, the administration appears to be broadening rather than narrowing the scope of potential military action, even as its principal diplomatic intermediary finds itself in the crosshairs.