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The U.S. and Iran held indirect nuclear talks for six hours on Thursday, and there's a lot riding on those negotiations. The U.S. is pulling some staff from embassies in Israel and Lebanon and amassing warships and bombers in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes on Iran. These talks are being mediated by Oman, which would prefer to avert a war in its backyard. NPR's correspondent in the Gulf, Aya Batrawy, reports on Oman's diplomacy.
AYA BATRAWY, BYLINE: Oman, a country of 5 million, sits in a precarious part of the world, at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. The country's sweeping shores and rugged mountains jut out into the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway where a fifth of the world's oil passes.
ABDULLAH BAABOOD: Oman is a small country and lives in unstable region. And the only way to survive, if you like, is to have peace and prosperity around it.
BATRAWY: That's Omani academic Abdullah Baabood. He says, to understand Oman's approach to foreign policy, you have to look at its culture. Oman is a crossroads of ethnicities and traditions, an ancient trade route linking East Africa to India and beyond. And many Omanis practice a distinct brand of Islam that's neither Shia nor Sunni called Ibadi. Baabood says intermarriage among the sects is common in Oman. And while Oman identifies as part of the club of energy-rich Gulf Arab states that are mostly Sunni, it maintains warm ties with Iran's Shia clerics and Yemen's Houthis, both its neighbors. Baabood says this allows it to be a facilitator in the region.
BAABOOD: And it's part of its hedging policy to have friends and also to show that small states, although they don't have a say in international powers, they can also have a role to play, and they do have a role to play.
BATRAWY: Oman's role is center stage as it mediates between Iran and the U.S., something it's done for years. Kuwaiti professor and Chatham House fellow Bader Al-Saif says some countries use financial and political leverage in mediation. He says Oman stays out of wars and listens.
BADER AL-SAIF: It does not impose its agenda. It's been known to be the facilitator, the quiet listener, the observer, the one that can convene, that has the power of convening.
BATRAWY: And Oman does not try to broker between countries far and wide, like Qatar, the UAE and Saudi Arabia do. It sticks to the issues near its borders. Few have witnessed Oman's style of facilitation up close. April Longley Alley is among the few. She's a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. But previously, as senior political adviser to the U.N.'s envoy to Yemen, she was frequently in Oman's capital Muscat for talks on Yemen. She says Omanis understand how to articulate and translate the concerns and positions of the different sides in talks.
APRIL LONGLEY ALLEY: So they just - they really help to, like, smooth the communications between the parties and, like, help to improve understanding and, like, the potential - right? - to maybe overcome the distrust so that you can get to, like, some kind of compromise.
BATRAWY: And she describes Oman's style of facilitation as very quiet, very discreet.
ALLEY: They're providing this space where they're allowing, you know, each side to understand each other better and from a position of trust.
BATRAWY: That was highlighted earlier this month when Iran asked to move planned talks with the U.S. from Turkey to Oman, and Washington agreed. Oman says there could be another round of U.S.-Iran talks next week, but so far, discussions have been inconclusive, and the region is bracing for potential war. Oman's foreign minister is meeting Vice President Vance in Washington today. The Trump administration says the president prefers a diplomatic solution. In best- or worst-case scenarios, Oman's role as a go-between remains crucial. Aya Batrawy, NPR News, Dubai.
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