TEHRAN - After shuttle tours by high-level political, military and trade delegations and the exchange of written messages between the leaders of Tehran and Muscat, the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tariq, began on Sunday a two-day official visit to Iran, with bilateral, regional and international files.

On the eve of the first anniversary of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's visit to Muscat in June 2022, the emerging breakthroughs in Iranian-Gulf relations, led by the resumption of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Riyadh, contribute to the Sultan of Oman carrying Arab and Western messages on his first visit to Iran since taking office in January 2020.

Tehran has been waiting for Sultan Haitham bin Tariq for the past two years. Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the visit "marks a turning point in the relations of the two countries at various levels". Iranian Ambassador to Muscat Ali Najafi Khoshroudi revealed Omani mediation between Tehran and Manama.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian: The visit of the Sultan of Oman constitutes a turning point in the relationship between the two countries (IRNA)

Visit Agenda

This comes a few days after the Sultan of Oman's visit to Egypt, where media reports talked about his raising the issue of normalizing relations between Tehran and Cairo.

Observers in Iran believe that in addition to the escalating bilateral relations between Tehran and Muscat, the two countries' view of the strategic Strait of Hormuz makes them concerned with the security of Gulf waters, and the mediating role played by the Sultanate between its northern neighbor on the one hand and the United States and European countries on the other, increases the importance of the visit, which may be the last attempt to revive the nuclear agreement.

The Omani Foreign Ministry announced last Friday the success of the Sultanate's efforts to exchange prisoners between Iran and Belgium and "settle the issue of detained nationals" in the two countries.

For his part, international relations researcher Hassan Beheshtipour believes that Sultan Haitham bin Tariq will discuss during the visit his country's common interests with Iran, regional security and thorny issues between Tehran and Washington, especially the frozen nuclear agreement and the prisoner exchange file, pointing out that the visit comes in the wake of geostrategic developments at the regional and international levels.

Beheshtipour summed up, in an interview with Al Jazeera Net, the agenda carried by the Sultan of Oman to Tehran in the "triad of bilateral, regional and international files", explaining that in addition to the signing of bilateral agreements between Tehran and Muscat, the ongoing visit would move the stagnant waters in the tense relations between the Islamic Republic and the United States, as the American side has already announced that it wants to resolve differences with Tehran through diplomacy.


Hormuz Initiative

The Iranian researcher believes that resolving the differences between his country and the United States passes through the two sides taking practical and real steps to reduce tension and end the hostile policy that has been going on for more than 40 years, describing the American messages through mediators as akin to a "media show" and that he does not rely much on regional and international mediation to resolve them.

However, the current US administration should have lifted part of the sanctions imposed by the previous administration on Tehran in order to incentivize the latter to show real flexibility in negotiations aimed at reviving the nuclear deal as well as completing new prisoner exchange deals.

As for the regional aspect of the visit of the Sultan of Oman to Tehran, it stems from the fruit of the normalization of Iranian-Saudi relations, according to Beheshtipour, who explained that his country had called on the Gulf countries in 2019 to join the "Hormuz Peace Initiative" calling for regional cooperation in ensuring the security of the region, pointing out that the initiative was frozen so far due to differences between Tehran and Riyadh.

#السلطان_هيثم_بن_طارق Sultan #عمان begins a visit to #طهران tomorrow .
The visit will reflect positively on security and stability in the region and further policy of dialogue and openness between the Gulf and #ايران in light of the multiple reconciliations taking place in the region, in which #سلطنة_عمان played a positive role. pic.twitter.com/aTsvGG9BOS

— Jaber Al-Harami (@jaberalharmi) May 27, 2023

Nuclear breakthrough

For his part, the former Iranian ambassador to Norway, Sri Lanka and Hungary, Abdul Reza Faraji Rad, reads the visit of the Sultan of Oman to Tehran in the context of the breakthrough at the level of Iranian-Gulf relations, stressing that in addition to the Omani mediation on the nuclear file, the Yemeni file will be at the heart of Sultan Haitham's talks with the Iranian side.

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, the former Iranian diplomat refers to the postponement of the date of the visit of the Sultan of Oman to Tehran several times, stressing that the timing of the visit indicates the movement of stagnant waters in the nuclear file, and expressed his hope that Sultan Haitham can link what former US President Donald Trump cut in this file.

Regarding media leaks about Muscat hosting rounds of dialogue between Tehran and Kiev on the issue of Iranian military support for Russia in its war on Ukraine, Faraji Rad believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's recent accusations against Iran about supplying Russia with drones are evidence of the failure of those talks. He ruled out that the file of differences between Iran and Ukraine is on the agenda of Sultan Haitham bin Tariq's meetings with Iranian officials.

Zelensky had sent a message to the Iranian people in which he accused Tehran of providing Moscow with drones, participating in the war against his country, and called on Iran to stand on the right side of history, as he put it. This was denied by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, accusing the Ukrainian president of "promoting anti-Iran propaganda with the aim of obtaining more weapons and financial aid from Western countries."