Iran's President, Sultan Qaboos Stress Broader Co-op

Tehran, Feb 16, IRNA – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Sultan Qaboos of Oman discussed latest regional and international issues on phone, here Wednesday night. Pointing to the Iran-Oman joint stand on regional issues, Iranian president stressed the continuation of bilateral efforts to boost regional peace and security. Sultan Qaboos for his part, emphasized on development of cooperation between Iran and Oman. “Tehran and Muscat can develop their cooperation in support of regional peace and security,” he added. Oman and Iran share close diplomatic, economic, and military ties. The two countries have conducted joint military exercises as recently as February 2011. Oman’s leader Sultan Qaboos traveled to Iran in 2009 for the first time since Iran’s 1979 revolution. In addition to strong diplomatic and political ties, Iran and Oman cooperate economically on several fronts, including energy. Most recently, the Persian Gulf neighbors signed an initial agreement to begin supplying large quantities of natural gas from Iran to Oman, a project that was earlier reported to be worth between 7-12 dlrs billion. In addition to these major economic projects, the two countries have opened a joint bank to facilitate their mutual financial dealings, agreed to develop the Kish and Hengam gas fields in the Gulf, and signed a memorandum of understanding for a potential joint petrochemical project valued at 800 dlrs million. The sultanate has officially declared that this country has no reason to believe Iran’s assurances that its program has purely civilian purposes. On July 11, 2011, Iran’s deputy oil minister announced that his country will start pumping natural gas to Oman through an undersea pipeline by March 2012. He added that Iran and Oman signed the initial contract but the final contract will not be signed until the end of the Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2012). On January 31, 2010, Iranian Ambassador to Oman Hossein Noushabadi announced that Iran and Oman will launch a joint bank in an effort to increase financial transactions between the two countries. Noushabadi said that the bank is essential for strengthening financial movement between the two states./end