Trump Threatens to “Bomb the S*** Out of” a U.S. Ally Over a Deal With Iran

President Donald Trump told Fox News in a phone interview Monday that the United States would “bomb the s— out of” Oman if the Gulf sultanate “gets in the way” of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, after Iran’s Foreign Ministry said Tehran had reached an agreement with Muscat on managing shipping traffic through the waterway. The threat came as a 60-day window for a U.S.-Iran peace deal, agreed to in June, expired Monday without a resolution to the broader conflict [1, 2]. In the Oval Office the same day, Trump said he liked the idea of declaring the Strait of Hormuz “a great idea” and effectively new U.S. territory, later posting a map online labeling the waterway as such [3].

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., announced he will introduce a war powers resolution barring military action against Oman once Congress returns from recess in mid-September, calling the threat “deranged” and warning it plays into the hands of adversaries like China and Russia given Oman’s status as a longtime U.S. treaty and free-trade partner; Trump would likely veto any such measure, and it faces long odds in a Republican-controlled Congress [4]. Republican Sen. Jim Justice of West Virginia said fallout from the broader Iran conflict was “causing repercussions like you can’t imagine” and that his party was “scared to death about the midterms,” while a Quinnipiac poll from late July found 60% of U.S. voters oppose military action against Iran [3].

Why It Sucks:

Trump Administration and Republican Hawks

• The peace window slammed shut. The 60-day negotiating period lapsed with no deal and no extension, undercutting the administration’s own timeline for ending the standoff with Iran [1, 2].
• An ally’s side deal reads as a snub. Oman brokering shipping arrangements directly with Tehran looks to hawks like a rival power filling the vacuum left by stalled U.S. talks, prompting the threat in the first place [1].
• Their own members are panicking. Even sympathetic Republicans like Sen. Jim Justice are warning the drawn-out conflict is becoming a midterm liability, with public opinion firmly against further military action [3].

Congressional Democrats

• A president threatened war with no vote. Kaine argues the Constitution requires congressional authorization before threatening military force against a sovereign country, something Trump bypassed with a single Fox News remark [4].
• The resolution is symbolic at best. Kaine can’t even introduce it until mid-September, and Trump would likely veto it anyway, leaving Democrats able to object publicly but not actually stop the policy [4].
• It hands leverage to China and Russia. Kaine warns that menacing a treaty partner and free-trade ally like Oman only pushes it toward closer ties with U.S. rivals [4].

Oman

• Diplomacy was met with a bombing threat. Oman stepped in to negotiate a shipping arrangement for the Strait after U.S.-Iran talks stalled, only to be publicly threatened by the U.S. president for doing so [1, 2].
• A decades-old alliance is suddenly in question. Oman has long served as a quiet U.S. partner and back-channel to Iran, a role now complicated by Trump floating annexation of the strait it borders [3].
• It’s collateral damage in a domestic fight. Oman’s sovereignty has become a talking point in a Washington argument over midterms and war powers that has nothing to do with its own interests [3, 4].

Sources & Citations:

[1] Washington Post: Trump threatened to bomb Oman because he’s unhappy with country’s deal with Iran
[2] NBC News: Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of Strait of Hormuz talks with Iran
[3] CNBC: Trump says no talks scheduled with Iran as he teases action in Hormuz Strait
[4] Sen. Tim Kaine: Kaine Will Challenge Trump’s Deranged Threat To “Bomb the S*** Out of” Oman