Silent friendship: Why India and Oman are best suited to be peacemakers in the turbulent Middle East landscape

During his visit to Oman on 26 June, Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval met with Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, delivering a heartfelt message of greetings from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Doval also had wide ranging talks with General Sultan bin Mohammed Al Nomani, Minister of the Royal Office of Oman and Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi.

Further during his day-long trip the top Indian bureaucrat visited the strategic Duqm Port where Muscat has given access to the Indian Navy to “facilitate its presence in the Indian Ocean Region”. This includes his visit to the Special Economic Zone in Duqm.

This visit comes after a three-day meeting between the deputy national security advisors of both countries in January this year. During that meeting both the parties decided to establish a “collective and coordinated response” towards the expansion of “terrorist propaganda, misuse of new and emerging technologies, arms and drugs trafficking, and abuse of cyberspace”.

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Before that in August 2022, both the countries held a joint military drill ‘Al-Najah’. The joint military exercise focussed on counter terrorism, regional security, and peacekeeping operation under the UN mandate. It should be noted both nations also organise aerial and naval exercises named Eastern Bridge and Naseem-al-Bahr respectively.

Moreover in 2021, the Indian government conferred Gandhi Peace Prize to (Late) His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said of Oman for the year 2019. In the same year (2019), for Oman, India was the third largest (after UAE and China) source for its imports and third largest market (after UAE and Saudi Arabia) for its non-oil exports in 2019.

Oman is an important interlocutor for India at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Arab League. Moreover, the geostrategic importance of Duqm port that overlooks the Gulf of Oman, Indian Ocean and Arabian sea, holds special significance for Indian interests in Indian Ocean Rim, a region where Chinese dragon is expanding its tentacles. As the port is located in the northwest of the Indian Ocean it can facilitate India’s access to the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Located close to Chabahar port of Iran it further boosts India’s regional access.

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Defence cooperation between both the nations are a key aspect of the overall ties. Oman is one of the most important partners of India in the Gulf region and an important factor in ensuring India’s strategic interests. Therefore in 2021, a framework MoU was renewed that guided defence exchanges between Muscat and New Delhi. In the very same year Navys of both nations signed an MoU to exchange white shipping information. In this context, it needs to be mentioned that high defence officials of both the countries have been paying reciprocatory visits in recent years, further showing the warmth in the bilateral ties.

This silent but solid friendship has varied dimensions when looked upon in the background of the broader scheme of things working in the middle east. Muscat’s friend-of-all foreign policy and India’s ‘strategic autonomy’ doctrine has wider scope in ensuring peace in perhaps the most disturbed region of the world.

Remember that even though China took the credit for breaking the Saudi-Iran rapprochement in March, Oman has been working to bridge the differences among the parties since 2015. Along with Iraq, Oman facilitated the beginning of talks between these two warring poles of the Islamic world in 2021 at Baghdad.

When on 9 April, Saudi and Omani delegation met Houthi representatives in Sanaa to “discuss a permanent ceasefire” in Yemen, the country facing “worst humanitarian crisis”, the significant role played by Muscat can hardly be brushed under the carpet.

Oman was the only GCC member that refused to take part in military operations in Yemen. Besides it has a “unique balancing potential” in the Arabian peninsula.

On the other hand, India also enjoys good relations with Saudi and Iran, though New Delhi has been rightly more conscious to secure its realpolitik interest in the region.

The warmth of India-Saudi relations is well known both in economic and strategic aspects, this was also seen recently when the Indian External Affairs Minister appreciated his Saudi counterpart’s assessment over the situation in Sudan before starting Operation Kaveri to evacuate Indian citizens out of the crisis torn nation. Or, when between 21 and 25 May, India and Saudi Arabia conducted their second joint naval exercise in the Persian Gulf showing proximity of ties.

Talking about India-Iran ties one should look upon the recent visit paid by the NSA there on 1 May, where Iranian president Ebrahim Raeisi discussed with him “deepening economic, political, and security ties” between the two countries.

It must be noted that India is the chair of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation for 2023 and Iran has become a permanent member of the organisation this year. While other issues like Chabahar, security of Afghanistan, International North-South Transport Corridor, rial-rupee mechanism in Iran-India trade etc. also hold significant importance in the bilateral ties.

Keeping this picture in mind India and Oman become two most eligible regional players having the potential to facilitate dialogue and ensure peace, security and prosperity in the region extending from Arabian sea to Red Sea. Even though this aspect is relatively less hyped in the media, the world can surely aspire from these two nations to play a broader role in ensuring calm in the troubled waters.

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