Iran-Oman Relations Since the 1970s: A Mutually Beneficial Modus Vivendi

Abstract

Valeri’s analysis of the Persian Gulf region’s history suggests that the two shores of the Gulf of Oman saw population movements at an early stage. At the birth of Islam, Omani territory was divided between a coastal region under direct Sassanid rule and semi-autonomous Arab tribes in the interior, ruled for the Persians by the local dynasties. Valeri explains the relatively warm Omani-Iranian relations by three factors: (A) Sultan Qaboos’ gratitude for the shah’s (Iran’s) decisive military assistance in the 1970s during the Dhofar war. (B) Muscat’s difficulties to propose a new socioeconomic contract replacing the old patrimonial model based on the clientelist distribution of the rent at home. (C) Qaboos has been less inclined than his GCC counterparts to see in his domestic Shiite minority an Iranian Trojan Horse. Indeed, Shiite groups in Oman have traditionally been invaluable allies of the rulers and have vested interests in maintaining the existing political order.