4 ms·

Do they? I just looked at a map and I see very little oil infrastructure on that side of Hormuz plus isn't Oman Iran aligned?

infecto 5mo ago
No expert but I always got the impression Oman was a neutral party. They help run the Hormuz with Iran but largely neutral in world politics.
mywittyname 5mo ago
They do, it's only like 1-2 million barrels a day in capacity right now.
coffeebeqn 5mo ago
It also looks fairly easy to mine/blockade outside of their territorial waters. You don’t need that many drones to make the whole area unusable for marine transport. The strait is the clearest choke point but I don’t know how much bypassing it would help UAE
- lesuorac 5mo ago
  You don't even need to hit that many ships either. Despite there being way less than 1 successful attack per week [1] travel through the Red Sea is down from ~500/week to ~200/week [2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_vessels#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_v... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea_crisis#Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_vessels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea_crisis#Houthi_attacks_...
  - IAmBroom 5mo ago
    Passing the strait is effectively playing Russian Roulette, where Iranian missiles are the bullets.
weard_beard 5mo ago
Oman is the Switzerland of the Middle East.
- mothballed 5mo ago
  As democratic popular opinion turns against classical liberal economic principles, many theocratic or monarchist hell holes are increasingly becoming the unexpected underdog turned winners in economic freedom. It's been fascinating to watch.
  - weard_beard 5mo ago
    My understanding is that unique historical, cultural, and even geographical factors have led to this outcome for Oman. I would encourage you to read up on the history of the country to understand the nuance here and not paint with such a broad brush.
    - mothballed 5mo ago
      Everyone has a unique "..." and a nuance here and a nuance there. UAE has a unique yada yada and also ended up with a surprisingly remarkably free economic index despite being a theocratic monarchy. As did the monarchy Lichtenstein, British controlled Hong Kong, and the one-party state of Singapore (technically democratic, in practice it functions like a recallable monarchy). Also of note the three richest countries by GDP PPP per capita are Monaco (hybrid monarchy with monarchist veto powers), Lichtenstein (hybrid monarchy with monarchist veto powers), Singapore (single party state).
      - pjc50 5mo ago
        I'm not sure what the conclusion is from this other than that the wealthy love having an autocratic tax haven microstate to park the money they earned from liberal democracies in.
        mothballed 5mo ago
wodenokoto 5mo ago
Fujairah, on the other side of Hormuz is the fourth largest bunkering hub in the world. That’s not “little oil infrastructure”
newsclues 5mo ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habshan%E2%80%93Fujairah_oil_pipeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habshan%E2%80%93Fujairah_oil_p...
saberience 5mo ago
You should visit Fujairah ! Huge facilities there.

infecto 5mo ago

No expert but I always got the impression Oman was a neutral party. They help run the Hormuz with Iran but largely neutral in world politics.

mywittyname 5mo ago

They do, it's only like 1-2 million barrels a day in capacity right now.

coffeebeqn 5mo ago

It also looks fairly easy to mine/blockade outside of their territorial waters. You don’t need that many drones to make the whole area unusable for marine transport. The strait is the clearest choke point but I don’t know how much bypassing it would help UAE

lesuorac 5mo ago
You don't even need to hit that many ships either. Despite there being way less than 1 successful attack per week [1] travel through the Red Sea is down from ~500/week to ~200/week [2]. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_vessels#Timeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_v... [2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea_crisis#Houthi_attacks_on_commercial_vessels https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Sea_crisis#Houthi_attacks_...
- IAmBroom 5mo ago
  Passing the strait is effectively playing Russian Roulette, where Iranian missiles are the bullets.

weard_beard 5mo ago

Oman is the Switzerland of the Middle East.

mothballed 5mo ago
As democratic popular opinion turns against classical liberal economic principles, many theocratic or monarchist hell holes are increasingly becoming the unexpected underdog turned winners in economic freedom. It's been fascinating to watch.
- weard_beard 5mo ago
  My understanding is that unique historical, cultural, and even geographical factors have led to this outcome for Oman. I would encourage you to read up on the history of the country to understand the nuance here and not paint with such a broad brush.
  - mothballed 5mo ago
    Everyone has a unique "..." and a nuance here and a nuance there. UAE has a unique yada yada and also ended up with a surprisingly remarkably free economic index despite being a theocratic monarchy. As did the monarchy Lichtenstein, British controlled Hong Kong, and the one-party state of Singapore (technically democratic, in practice it functions like a recallable monarchy). Also of note the three richest countries by GDP PPP per capita are Monaco (hybrid monarchy with monarchist veto powers), Lichtenstein (hybrid monarchy with monarchist veto powers), Singapore (single party state).
    - pjc50 5mo ago
      I'm not sure what the conclusion is from this other than that the wealthy love having an autocratic tax haven microstate to park the money they earned from liberal democracies in.
      - mothballed 5mo ago

wodenokoto 5mo ago

Fujairah, on the other side of Hormuz is the fourth largest bunkering hub in the world. That’s not “little oil infrastructure”

newsclues 5mo ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habshan%E2%80%93Fujairah_oil_pipeline https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habshan%E2%80%93Fujairah_oil_p...

saberience 5mo ago

You should visit Fujairah ! Huge facilities there.