Trump threatens to bomb US ally Oman as Iran agreement expires

President Donald Trump warned of an attack on Oman if it “gets in the way” of efforts in the Strait of Hormuz. Trump previously threatened the US ally in May.

• Iran agreement expires: The 60-day deadline for the two sides to reach a deal toward ending the conflict has now passed. Trump again said he is in no rush and claimed his administration has established a direct backchannel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the IRGC denies.

• Main priority: The president reiterated that the top goal in the war is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, undercutting advisers who say keeping oil prices low is an important priority.

• Gaza ceasefire plan: Meanwhile, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today for more than four hours. Kushner pressed Netanyahu to move forward with the Trump-backed Gaza ceasefire plan and not “create obstacles,” according to an Israeli source.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told US envoy Jared Kushner that Israel would not withdraw any of its forces in Gaza or allow reconstruction to begin until the complete disarmament of Hamas, according to a senior Israeli official.

The two also agreed that an American general would oversee the decommissioning of Hamas weaponry, the official said, which would be the first step in the demilitarization of the shattered enclave.

Hamas has refused to disarm unless it is sequenced with an end to near-daily Israeli attacks on Gaza and the beginning of a withdrawal of Israeli forces currently occupying more than half of the territory.

We’ve also been reporting on meetings taking place today aimed at reviving President Donald Trump’s stalled Gaza peace plan. Among the officials attending talks was Tony Blair, the former British Prime Minister.

Blair is a member of Trump’s Executive Board and Gaza Executive Board, part of the president’s Board of Peace, and served as an envoy in the Middle East for nearly a decade.

Some context: US envoy Jared Kushner pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a more than four-hour meeting, to move forward with the Gaza ceasefire plan and “not create obstacles,” according to an Israeli source familiar with the discussions.

Blair is a member of Trump’s Executive Board and Gaza Executive Board, part of the president’s Board of Peace, and served as an envoy in the Middle East for nearly a decade.

US President Donald Trump has threatened to attack Oman if it interferes with his country’s efforts in the Strait of Hormuz, as the conflict with Iran continues and a two-month window for peace talks expires without a clear path to end the war.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the shit out of them,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News’ Trey Yingst that was published today.

In a meeting that lasted more than four hours, US envoy Jared Kushner pressed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to move forward with the Trump-backed Gaza ceasefire plan and “not create obstacles,” according to an Israeli source familiar with the discussions.

Netanyahu, who rejected the 15-point plan earlier this month, said that making progress on the plan was “problematic” because of the upcoming Israeli elections at the end of October, the source told CNN. Courting a right-wing voter base and trailing in repeated polls, Netanyahu has been unwilling to make concessions on Gaza ahead of the elections.

Instead, Netanyahu told Kushner and Board of Peace director Nickolay Mladenov that Hamas needed to take steps first, the source said. The two met with Hamas in Egypt on Sunday.

Netanyahu has demanded that Hamas completely disarm before Israel begins to withdraw its forces from Gaza. But Hamas has said it’s only willing to disarm if that occurs alongside a sequenced withdrawal of Israeli forces from the enclave.