Bloomberg: Oman Fights Saudi Bid for Gulf Hegemony With Iran Pipe Plan

Oman’s plan to build a $1 billion natural-gas pipeline from Iran is the latest sign that Saudi Arabia is failing to bind its smaller Gulf neighbors into a tighter bloc united in hostility to the Islamic Republic.

The accord was signed during Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s visit to Oman last month, and marks the first such deal between Iran and a Gulf Cooperation Council state in more than a decade. Oman is in good standing with the U.S. too: a $2.1 billion purchase of air-defense systems from Raytheon Inc. was announced during a visit by Secretary of State John Kerry last year. Oman, led by 73-year-old Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said, hosted secret talks between the U.S. and Iran in the run-up to November’s Geneva agreement, Foreign Minister Yusuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah told al-Hayat newspaper this week.

Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves and population exceed the combined total of the Gulf Cooperation Council’s other five members, yet it has struggled to impose policy on its smaller neighbors. Some are uncomfortable with Saudi opposition to changes in the region including the U.S.-Iranian thaw and the rise of political Islam.

“Oman isn’t enthusiastic about integration and cooperation, and I don’t think it ever will be,” Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, an Emirati academic and author of “The Gulf Regional System,” said in a phone interview. “The Sultan has always maintained a sense of mysteriousness about Oman, and they think of themselves as somewhat different from the rest of the GCC.” MORE