Oman's crucial role as Iran-US whisperer

+ Congress grills Columbia University's president US Edition - Today's top story: Oman serves as a crucial back channel between Iran and the US as tensions flare in the Middle East [View in browser]( US Edition | 18 April 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Thousands of babies in the US are still dying because of sudden infant death syndrome]( - [Millions of low-income students are taking on student loan debt and not graduating]( - [Billions of cicadas are about to emerge in 17 US states]( [​](Lead story Oman is a small state playing an important role in the Middle East crisis. Israel and the U.S. don’t have any direct, official diplomatic lines of communication with Iran. But over the past few months, Oman has served as an unofficial go-between, meeting with delegations from Tehran and various Western governments and, reportedly, passing along messages. As Rice University Persian Gulf specialist Kristian Coates Ulrichsen explains, [this isn’t the first time Omani officials have acted as diplomatic facilitators](. They performed a similar role during the secret negotiations between Washington and Tehran ahead of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and they have also hosted Saudi and Houthi delegations during the Yemeni civil war. Keeping open channels of communication in this way is crucial, Coates Ulrichsen writes. It helps minimize “the possibility of any accidental escalation on the Iranian side” and complements “U.S. and European dialogue with Israeli leaders” in a bid to find a resolution to the standoff. One last thing: If you value The Conversation’s international coverage, we think you’ll also like our friends at the DailyChatter. This daily newsletter covers more than 150 countries by highlighting trusted sources from around the world such as The Conversation. Subscribe today and [get the world in your inbox tomorrow](. Matt Williams Senior International Editor Iran’s foreign minister, Hossein Amirabdollahian, meets his Omani counterpart, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, in Tehran on July 17, 2023. Atta Kenare/AFP via Getty Images [Oman serves as a crucial back channel between Iran and the US as tensions flare in the Middle East]( Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University The small Gulf state has hosted high-level Western and Iranian delegations, passing messages between them. 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