As Qaboos’ coffin was carried into Muscat in January 2020 on the same military vehicle that had brought him into the capital city in 1970, the world had good cause to reflect on the implications of the passing of this ruler of five decades. His long rule was marked by Omani facilitation of dialogue between states and parties locked in diplomatic tension or allout conflict and war. Muscat was a conduit for communication between Iran and Iraq during the Gulf War, Israel and the Palestinians, combatants in the Yemen War, and the United States and Iran. Helping first to secure the release in 2011 of American hikers held by Iran, Oman subsequently facilitated secret meetings in Muscat between American and Iranian officials during the Obama presidency which eventually led to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), otherwise known as the Iran nuclear deal. In his five decades in power Sultan Qaboos carefully developed a strategy for managing Oman’s exposure to the swirling currents of regional conflicts through his foreign policy, in ways calculated to support his state’s survival. In so doing, Oman’s foreign policy has been seen as quite distinct, several terms have been used to try and capture its essence: independent, neutral, particularistic, pragmatic, balanced. In the implementation of this policy Oman has been a facilitator and sometimes perceived as a mediator between groups in conflict. This approach has been continued under Sultan Haitham who succeeded his cousin in January 2020. Hence, this chapter uses “since 1970.” It is this aspect of Oman’s foreign policy—Oman’s quiet diplomacy— that is the focus of this chapter. Avoiding conflict or taking sides in wars (such as between Iran and Iraq or in Yemen) Oman’s foreign policy of even-handedness is such that the Sultanate has frequently been referred to as “the Switzerland of the Middle East.”

This chapter has fairly limited aims: it uses the conceptual framework of “quiet diplomacy” to characterize an aspect of Oman’s foreign policy that has been evident since 1970, and most unambiguously since Qaboos established himself after the end of the Dhofar War.