TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Omani counterpart Yusef bin Alawi, held talks over key regional and international issues in Tehran on Tuesday. 

Bin Alawi visited Tehran on Tuesday and was welcomed by Zarif in the Martyr Soleimani Center at the Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies.

In reaction to bin Alawi’s trip to Iran, Abbas Mousavi, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, wrote on his Twitter account, “Mr. Yusef bin Alawi arrived in Iran minutes ago in line with continuous consultations between the two countries’ officials.”

It was bin Alawi’s trip to Tehran in 2020. He made three visits to Iran in 2019, the last of which was in December.

Bin Alawi’s trip to Tehran comes as the tension between Iran and the United States has reached a dangerous level.

The conflict between Iran and the U.S. entered such a stage as the U.S. military, upon a direct order by Donald Trump, assassinated top Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad’s international airport on January 3. 

Five days after the assassination, which Zarif called “U.S. adventurism”, Iran retaliated by firing dozens of ballistic at a major U.S. military airbase in western Iraq. 
 
During Barack Obama’s presidency, Oman acted as an intermediary between Iran and the United States. 

Analysts say Oman is still trying to deescalate tension between Tehran and Washington.

Tension between Iran and the U.S. started unfolding after Trump unilaterally and illegally withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal and put the harshest ever sanctions in history against Iran under his “maximum pressure” strategy against Tehran. 

Analysts have called Oman the Switzerland of the Middle East. The country has also been mediating Yemen and Saudi Arabia which have been at war since March 2015.

In their December meeting, Zarif and bin Alawi conferred on key international and regional issues, particularly the Tehran-initiated Hormuz Peace Endeavor (HOPE). 

MJ/PA