Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif received his Omani counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi at the headquarters of Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday. This is the second time in the past two months that the Oman minister is visiting Iran. Promoting bilateral ties and holding consecutive talks between the two countries with the aim of exchanging views on the recent developments in the region have been cited as the main aim behind the visit, however, the Omani FM is reportedly in Tehran to convey the following two messages to Iranian officials:
First, UK has suggested that if Iran releases the detained British oil tanker, Stena Impero, the country will remove the seizure of Iranian oil tanker, Grace 1, in return.
Second, due to a suggestion made by Jared Kushner, the Senior Advisor to the President of US, Americans will unblock some of the Iranian frozen assets via Oman in case the Islamic Republic draws back from its stance towards the 'Deal of Century'.
On July 4, British Royal Marines in Gibraltar stormed the Iran-operated 300,000-tonne Grace 1 and detained it, accusing it of carrying oil to Syria in possible violation of the European Union’s sanctions on the Arab country. Iran condemned the move as “piracy” and summoned Britain’s ambassador in protest over it, highlighting that neither the tanker was headed to Syria, nor Iran is a member an EU member and subject to any European oil embargo.
On July 19, the UK-flagged Stena Impero was captured by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) for violating international maritime laws when crossing the high-traffic Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. Iranian officials say the vessel had switched off its GPS locator, in contravention of international regulations, and was sailing into the strategic waterway in a wrong traffic pattern. The Stena Impero has a crew of 23, including 18 Indians, three Russians, a Latvian and a Filipino.
Iran has repeatedly announced that along with other liberation movements it will stand against the US plan for Palestine dubbed as the “Deal of the Century”, describing some Arab states’ accompanying with Israel and the US as ‘treason.’ Iran describes the deal as a pre-failed project, noting no country except several reactionary Arab states took the issue seriously. The US-proposed deal is aimed at solving the issue of Palestine in favor of Israelis, and Iran will resist the US project of 'Deal of Century' by forging unity among the Palestinian groups, Iranian officials say.
HJ/