Speaking at a meeting of"Manama Dialogue 2025”, hosted by Bahrain and held in cooperation with the International Institute for Strategic Studies, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Al Busaidi on Saturday described Israel, rather than Iran, as the prime source of regional instability, and encouraged fellow Persian Gulf countries to engage with Tehran rather than isolate it, according to the National News.
Al Busaidi said the five rounds of indirect US-Iran nuclear negotiations mediated by his country had made substantial progress before they were attacked by Israel. Three days before the sixth round of talks was set to take place in June, Israel “unleashed its bombs and missiles in an illegal and deadly act of sabotage”.
Negotiations between Washington and Tehran were aimed at reaching a new deal but talks collapsed when the 12-day Israeli war with Iran broke out on June 13, 2025. The US also intervened and carried out strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
“We have long known that Israel, not Iran, is the prime source of insecurity in the region,” Al Busaidi told the IISS Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.
The Sultanate of Oman will continue to support comprehensive dialogue as a strategic option for achieving security, peace and prosperity in the region, he said, adding, “A more stable and developed future could be built for the nations of the region only through dialogue.”
On June 13, Israel launched a blatant and unprovoked aggression against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that killed at least 1,064 people in the country, including military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians.
The United States also entered the war by bombing three Iranian nuclear sites in a grave violation of international law.
In response, the Iranian Armed Forces targeted strategic sites across the occupied territories as well as the Al-Udeid air base in Qatar, the largest American military base in West Asia.
On June 24, Iran, through its successful retaliatory operations against both the Israeli regime and the US, managed to impose a halt to the aggression.
