AFP

 

Iranian President Hassan Rohani met Oman’s leaders in Muscat yesterday during a visit aimed at boosting ties and easing tension with other countries.

Starting his two-day visit to Iran’s long-time ally, Rohani went straight into a meeting with Sultan Qaboos, who has acted as an intermediary between Western countries and the Islamic republic.

The two leaders discussed “bilateral co-operation” and “building good relations,” Oman’s official ONA news agency said.

Before leaving Tehran for Muscat, Rohani had called the visit “of great importance to strengthen relations between Iran and Islamic countries, especially those neighbouring Iran.”

“The Strait of Hormuz gives countries south of the Gulf and the Arabian Sea great importance,” Iran’s official news agency Irna cited him as saying.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards unit is tasked with protecting the country’s waters in the strategic strait, at the entrance to the Gulf, a key gateway for global oil supplies.

Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi said Rohani’s visit “reflects the confidence” that exists between Muscat and Tehran, who are both “convinced that the top priority is achieving real stability in the region.”

“We seek to strengthen this co-operation to serve and bring closer together all (countries) in the region,” the Omani news agency quoted Alawi as saying.

Rohani has pledged to improve relations with the Gulf countries since his election last year.

His foreign minister, Mohamed Javad Zarif, visited four Gulf states in December and voiced readiness to visit Saudi Arabia.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have long been strained.

Such strains have been accentuated by Tehran’s support for Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, with Riyadh backing the rebels trying to topple him.

Tehran’s support for Assad has also made several other countries in the region wary of their neighbour.

Alawi said his government is “in contact with both sides and we are not biased towards one party or another” in the Syrian conflict, which “does not directly affect us.”

The sultanate’s circumspection has earned it respect as a mediator, highlighted by its hosting of secret talks between Tehran and Washington before the signing in Geneva last November of an accord between world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme.

Alawi said Oman had “played a role in the rapprochement between the West and Iran,” adding that his country had helped “reduce distrust.”

He expressed confidence that “both parties will continue” talking until they resolve their differences.

World powers suspect Iran’s uranium enrichment programme has the ultimate aim of developing a nuclear weapon, despite repeated denials.

Talks are continuing between Iran and the major powers aimed at hammering out a lasting nuclear accord that satisfies all sides.

“Oman and Iran are satisfied with the progress in negotiations,” Alawi told reporters after meeting his Iranian counterpart and Rohani.

Rohani, who also met Oman’s top cleric Ahmad al-Khalil, is scheduled to meet members of the business community today.

“During this trip, we want to implement contracts in the field of trade and economy, especially those linked to oil and gas,” as well as in finance, banking, and culture, Irna quoted him as saying.

Tehran’s ambassador in Muscat, Ali Akbar Sibeveih, said Oman and Iran are seeking to expand trade, which reached $1bn last year, as well as bilateral investments which they expect will top $10bn by the end of this year.

The two sides signed an “initial agreement” to construct an undersea pipeline shipping gas from Iran to Oman, Oil Minister Mohamed al-Ramahi said.

Rohani is the second Iranian leader to visit Oman since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. His predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited in 2007.