Trump threatens to bomb Oman; Iran signals ‘fully offensive’ policy, says Reuters

U.S. President Donald Trump threatened Oman over the Strait of Hormuz as Iran signaled a shift to an offensive posture.Iran has warned it could adopt a “fully offensive” posture and take military action in the Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy with the U.S. fails, Reuters reported, as U.S. President Donald Trump separately threatened to bomb Oman if it obstructs Washington’s efforts to control shipping through the strategic waterway.Trump has threatened to bomb Oman in a phone interview with Fox News on Monday as Oman, a U.S. ally and long-standing regional mediator, works separately with Iran on an arrangement to restore maritime traffic through the strategic waterway.Iranian officials said earlier Monday that Tehran and Oman were close to finalising an understanding on maritime routes through the strait. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the two sides had reached an understanding on the “map of the transit route” and were working to finalise details.Trump also said Washington was in direct communication with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a claim the group’s spokesperson rejected in comments to the semi-official Tasnim News Agency.The Strait of Hormuz has become the central flashpoint in negotiations. Before the war, roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments passed through the waterway.A June memorandum of understanding, negotiated with Pakistani mediation and Qatari support, had established a framework for ending military operations and moving towards a broader agreement covering Iran’s nuclear programme, sanctions and the Strait of Hormuz. The 60-day negotiating period expired Monday without a final settlement, although Tehran disputes the idea that the memorandum imposed a formal deadline.A senior Iranian official told Reuters that Tehran had shifted from a defensive to a “fully offensive” posture and warned that Iran could take military action to break the US naval blockade if diplomacy fails. The official said Iran’s conditions would be communicated to Washington through mediators, including Pakistan and regional states.