Oman’s Sultan Haitham to discuss Gaza war during visit to Jordan

He will meet King Abdullah II on his first visit to Amman since coming to power in 2020

Sultan Haitham of Oman will discuss the continuing war in Gaza with King Abdullah II on a two-day visit to Jordan that starts on Wednesday, official media said.

Oil producer Oman has been playing an interlocutor role to lower tensions between Iran and the US over Gaza and other regional conflicts. The two-day visit is the first by Sultan Haitham to Jordan since he succeeded the late Sultan Qaboos in 2020.

The official visit will produce increased co-operation on “issues of bilateral interest, especially the Palestinian cause”, said Oman’s ambassador to Jordan, Fahd Al Ojeili.

The two US allies are both seen as stable, moderate monarchies supported by Washington, with Jordan dependent on the US for aid flows. Jordan has a peace treaty with Israel while Oman has open channels with Israel.

In October 2022, King Abdullah II and Queen Rania went to Muscat on an official visit.

Last month, Jordan helped Israel take down missiles and rockets launched by Iran, while maintaining vocal criticism of Israeli conduct in Gaza. Jordan said that it acted in defence of its sovereignty and would not accept its territory being used as a pathway for conflict.

The Gaza war started on October 7 with an attack by the Iran-backed militant group Hamas on southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed.

More than 36,600 people have been killed in the subsequent Israeli invasion of Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.

Jordan and Oman grew closer under Sultan Qaboos, who came to power in 1970, and was friends with the late King Hussein, the father of King Abdullah II.

Jordanian state television reported that King Abdullah II and Sultan Haitham have similar “political visions”, and that both “always emphasise the need to treat the Palestinian file with wisdom”.

The two leaders have “spared no effort” to stop the Israeli invasion of Gaza and “empower the Palestinian brethren to establish their own, independent state”, it said.