Oman’s Foreign Minister in Tehran

Persian Gulf De-Escalation on Track

Date: 02 December 2019 - 21:43

News ID: ۷۳۴۴۴

TEHRAN (Dispatches) -- Iran's top diplomat Muhammad Javad Zarif voiced support on Monday for reducing tensions in the Persian Gulf as he hosted his counterpart from Oman for talks in Tehran.
The visit by Oman's minister of state for foreign affairs, Yusuf bin Alawi, came a week after he held a meeting in Washington with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
It is the second time since late July that bin Alawi has been sent to Iran by the sultanate, a past mediator in the Middle East.
The Iranian foreign ministry said Zarif, in talks with bin Alawi, had "emphasized the necessity of reducing tensions in the region".
Zarif said Iran was serious about a plan -- dubbed the Hormuz Peace Endeavour -- that it has put forward to reduce regional tensions.
President Hassan Rouhani announced the peace plan at the UN General Assembly in September, calling on Arab nations in the Persian Gulf, including Saudi Arabia, to join it.
In a tweet, the Omani foreign ministry said that bin Alawi and Zarif had "discussed bilateral relations and regional issues".
The Omani minister's trip to Iran comes a week after he met Pompeo during an official visit to the United States.
Long-fraught relations between Tehran and Washington plunged to a new low last year when the U.S. unilaterally withdrew from an international accord with Iran.
Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani told bin Alawi on Monday security of the Middle East can be only guaranteed through the establishment of regional collations without foreign interference.
"Only those coalitions, which are free from influence and interference of foreigners, can solve problems, restore security and last," Shamkhani said.
Last month, Iran denounced the U.S. move to create a coalition for naval patrols in the Persian Gulf, saying it would only exacerbate insecurity and instability across the world.
Shamkhani said, "A country that is not committed to any of its obligations, whether in connection with Iran or in exchanges with other countries, cannot be trusted."
The countries, which have played a leading role in creating tension and insecurity in the region and caused chaos by waging different wars and spreading terrorism, have never been after stability and security in the Persian Gulf and only seek to serve their own interests and plunder the region, he added.
Shamkhani hit out at the ongoing Saudi war on Yemen, saying it exposes the warmongering nature of arrogant powers and their stooges in the region.
"The continuation of this genocide will only serve the interests of the enemies of regional peace and security such as the U.S. and Israel, and Saudi Arabia needs to yield to the demands of the resilient Yemeni people to stop posing further danger to regional stability and security.”
The Omani foreign minister, for his part, hailed regular consultations between Tehran and Muscat on regional and international issues and said any tension in the region would not be beneficial to any Persian Gulf littoral states.
Alawi added that the establishment of sustainable security in the region calls for consensus among all regional countries and settlement of misunderstandings.
He expressed his country's readiness to make use of its potential to ease ongoing tensions and prepare the ground for constructive dialog among regional states.