H E Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi, Foreign Minister, in an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, talks about Oman’s diplomatic efforts towards achieving international as well as regional peace. He spoke on the Russian-Ukraine conflict, relations with Iran and Israeli-Palestinian issue.
Oman recently received Russian Foreign.

Minister Sergey Lavrov. Was this visit due to your moderate position on the war?
We are neutral, even if we voted for the UN General Assembly resolution condemning the war. This war is taking place in Europe, which presumably needs a European solution. We are counting on the ability of European leaders and others to find a solution because the posture ‘you are with us or against us’ will not solve the problem. Space must be left for diplomatic engagement.

Are you telling the Russians that they made a mistake?
No, we are not saying that, otherwise we would be stuck in a ‘blame game’ that will not allow us to move towards ending this war. Mistakes were made on both sides. There was no doubt a bad appreciation of the situation, a disconnection from reality and a misunderstanding that led to this war.

The United States and the European Union are imposing sanctions on Russia. Will you implement them?
We are a small country and we don’t really want to be dragged into this kind of process. We are already affected by the situation in general. Rather, we are more interested in investing our time and effort in finding a solution than making things more complicated. Show me a country where you succeeded by imposing sanctions!

Are you optimistic about the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action? Do you confirm the existence of secret negotiations in Oman between the Iranians and the Americans, as was the case in 2013?
I can’t really vouch for that. We are always happy to help if asked and I hope that new momentum will come to complete this agreement. This is in the interest of security and stability, not only for our region, but for the world as well. In the current negotiations, there are still points of contention to be settled. I really hope that the current US administration can come to terms with the administration of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

Going back to talking about the Americans, do you have a feeling that they are withdrawing from the Middle East?
Personally, I don’t think the United States is withdrawing. But there is undoubtedly a reorganisation of their presence, because there are other priorities for the US. It is clear that a certain number of countries have developed their own capabilities and structures, and the question is – how do we integrate with each other?

Do you intend to join the Abraham Accords and normalise your relations with Israel?
When we talk about Israel, we have always supported peace efforts and this is a historical fact. We have hosted three Israeli prime ministers in Oman: Rabin, Peres and Netanyahu. We were the first Gulf country to do so. And since the Camp David Accords, we have always supported peace efforts and were one of the few countries in the region to do so. We have always supported the sovereign choice of our neighbours, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, of signing the Abraham Accords with Israel. But at the same time, we support initiatives that include the Palestinian voice. We continue to believe that a final, lasting and just settlement of the Palestinian issue can only be achieved on the basis of the two-state solution.