April 19, 2019
The United States has reached a strategic port deal with Oman that US officials say will allow the US military better access to regional waters by reducing the need to send ships through the Strait of Hormuz.
The US embassy in Oman said in a statement March 24 that the agreement governed US access to Duqm and Salalah, both of which are port cities on the Arabian Sea far from the Strait of Hormuz.
The state-run Oman News Agency said the “framework agreement” was aimed at bolstering “Omani-American military relations.”
“It will allow the US forces to take advantage from the facilities offered at some of the Sultanate’s ports and airports during visits of the US military vessels and aircraft, particularly in the port of Duqm,” it said.
The US Fifth Fleet, which patrols the Arabian Sea, Red Sea and Persian Gulf, is based in Bahrain, well inside the Persian Gulf, and will remain there. But the deal with Oman suggests that US warships will be able to get many services at Duqm and Salalah and thus avoid entering the Persian Gulf.
Iran deeply resents the US presence inside the Persian Gulf and can be expected to attack US ships there in the event of war. In addition, there has been considerable Shii unrest in Bahrain against the Sunni-dominated government there. For both reasons, the US Navy logically would wish to reduce its dependence on Bahrain.
It is unknown from the announcement how much of what Bahrain does for US warships could be replaced by the facilities at Duqm and Salalah.
A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the deal was significant in improving access to ports that connect to a network of roads to the broader region, giving the US military great resiliency in a crisis.
“We used to operate on the assumption that we could just steam into the [Persian] Gulf,” one US official said, adding that now “the quality and quantity of Iranian weapons raises concerns.”
Duqm is an ideal port for large ships. It is even big enough to turn around an aircraft carrier, a second official said.
“The port itself is very attractive and the geostrategic location is very attractive, again being outside the Strait of Hormuz,” the official said, adding that negotiations had begun under the Obama Administration.
For Oman, the deal will further advance its efforts to transform Duqm, once just a fishing village, into a key Middle East industrial and port center, as it diversifies its economy beyond oil and gas exports.
The deal could also better position the United States in the region for what has become a global competition with China for influence.
Chinese firms once aimed to invest as much as $10.7 billion in Duqm, a massive injection of capital into Oman, in what was expected to be a commercial, not a military, arrangement.
“It looks to me like the Chinese relationship here isn’t as big as it appeared it was going to be a couple of years ago,” the second official said.
“There’s a section of the Duqm industrial zone that’s been set aside for the Chinese … and, as far as I can tell, so far they’ve done just about nothing.”