Strait of Hormuz Standoff: Trump Warns Oman Against Tehran Shipping Pact
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The Arab Post
- . August 19, 2026
- . Update: August 19, 2026 3:11 pm
President Donald Trump has again warned Omani officials against getting “in the way” of the United States during its negotiations with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Trump Oman warning, Speaking to Fox News reporter Trey Yingst, Trump said, “If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s— out of them.” It was not the first time Trump has aimed such language at the Gulf nation, having told reporters in May that Oman would “behave just like everybody else, or we will have to blow them up.”
Oman and Iran Near a Shipping Deal
The threat comes as Muscat and Tehran work through the final details of an arrangement to manage traffic through the strait, a route that carried roughly 34 percent of the world’s crude oil in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters that the two countries had reached “an understanding” regarding the map of the transit route through the strait. According to earlier reporting, the plan under discussion would reopen the strait with ships entering through a route close to Iran and exiting through a route close to Oman, transiting without paying fees during an interim period.
A Ceasefire Deadline Passes Quietly
Trump’s comments landed on the same day that the 60-day deadline for the US and Iran to reach a deal toward ending their conflict expired without a resolution. Rather than treat the deadline as urgent, Trump said its expiration was irrelevant and that there was no fixed timeline, adding that his administration has an informal back channel for talks with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a claim the IRGC has denied. Trump also reiterated that preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains his administration’s top priority in the conflict.
Shipping Traffic Grinds to a Near Halt
The uncertainty has already hit maritime trade hard. Shipping through the strait slowed sharply over the weekend, with only five commodity ships making the crossing compared to 31 the previous weekend, according to data from Kpler. Iran effectively shut down large-scale transit through the waterway after Israel and the US struck the country on February 28, cutting off a corridor that once carried close to a fifth of the world’s traded oil supplies.
Washington’s Conditions for Reopening the Strait
The US has made clear it will not accept just any arrangement. Washington has opposed giving Iran control over strait traffic or allowing it to charge vessels for passage, and has sought an acceptable deal on the strait’s reopening before lifting its blockade of Iranian ports. It remains unclear what specifically triggered Trump’s latest outburst against Oman, with Trump telling reporters separately, “I don’t think they behaved very well, but we’d handle them very easily, just like we do other things.”
Political Pressure Builds at Home – Trump Oman warning
The prolonged conflict is also becoming a domestic liability for Trump. The war’s strain on the global economy is turning into a political problem for Trump and congressional Republicans ahead of the November midterm elections, with his approval rating falling to 33 per cent, the lowest of his second term, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll. Aide Jared Kushner told Fox News that Iran currently is “not showing any interest” in a deal the US would consider acceptable.
With the ceasefire deadline now lapsed and shipping traffic still disrupted, attention turns to whether Oman and Iran can finalise their transit arrangement despite Washington’s objections, and whether Trump’s rhetoric translates into any further action against a longtime US ally in the Gulf. For now, global oil markets remain on edge, watching a waterway that carries roughly a third of the world’s seaborne crude for any sign of how the standoff will resolve.
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