Reports say Haitham bin Tariq al-Said will replace Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who had no children
Oman’s Sultan Qaboos bin Said, the Arab world’s longest-serving ruler and with a reputation for quiet diplomacy, has died at the age of 79.
His cousin, Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, will be sworn in as the new sultan, ending decades of speculation over who would succeed the popular ruler.
Continue reading...With Qaboos bin Said’s illness seemingly terminal, an elaborate set of rules is enacted
Elaborate discussions are under way in the Omani court about a potential successor to Sultan Qaboos bin Said, who has ruled the Arab nation for nearly 50 years but whose longterm illness has been worsening.
The succession process involves the opening of sealed letters in the court in Muscat identifying the sultan’s choice of successor, if the court cannot agree among itself.
Continue reading...The explosions, on a vital passageway for the world’s oil supply, may prove Trump’s policy of coercion has backfired
The explosions were bigger and the damage more extensive. But the message and its means of delivery have some similarities.
Thursday’s attacks on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman caused jitters in global markets and unease across a region that has been bracing for conflict throughout much of the year. As with the earlier attacks on 12 May, news of the latest strikes was again broken by media outlets aligned to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran, who broadcast images of the attacks within minutes of them taking place.
Continue reading...Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as tanker fires send crude prices soaring
Iran hasn’t said who it thinks is responsible for today’s attacks off its coastline.
But on Twitter, foreign minister Javad Zarif has described the attacks as beyond suspicious:
Reported attacks on Japan-related tankers occurred while PM @AbeShinzo was meeting with Ayatollah @khamenei_ir for extensive and friendly talks.
Suspicious doesn't begin to describe what likely transpired this morning.
Iran's proposed Regional Dialogue Forum is imperative.
Here’s the key line from president Rouhani’s speech on Iranian TV:
“Security is of high importance to Iran in the sensitive region of the Persian Gulf, in the Middle East, in Asia and in the whole world. We have always tried to secure peace and stability in the region.”
Continue reading...First female Omani novelist to be translated into English shares £50,000 prize with translator Marilyn Booth – the first time an Arabic book has won
Jokha Alharthi, the first female Omani novelist to be translated into English, has won the Man Booker International prize for her novel Celestial Bodies.
Alharthi, the £50,000 award’s first winner to write in Arabic, shares the prize equally with her translator, American academic Marilyn Booth. Celestial Bodies is set in the Omani village of al-Awafi and follows the stories of three sisters: Mayya, who marries into a rich family after a heartbreak; Asma, who marries for duty; and Khawla, waiting for a man who has emigrated to Canada.
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