His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik had telephone conversations with President General Joseph Aoun of the Lebanese Republic, Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic, and Shehbaz Sharif, Prime Minister of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan.
The calls dealt with the latest developments regarding the military escalation witnessed in the region, along with the resulting repercussions affecting the security and stability of peoples.
The leaders emphasised the importance of concerted international efforts to achieve an immediate cessation of escalating tensions and a return to the paths of dialogue and diplomacy, in a manner that contributes to containing the crisis and enhancing security and stability.
Meanwhile, diplomatic communications continue between Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidy, Foreign Minister, and his counterparts in Arab and friendly countries regarding the developments of the ongoing conflict in the region.
Sayyid Badr expressed the Sultanate of Oman's position, calling for an end to the Israeli-American war on the Islamic Republic of Iran, asserting that a return to dialogue and negotiation is the only path to finding wise solutions that ensure the achievement of security, stability, peace and consensus on all outstanding issues.
Numerous ministers from Arab and friendly countries affirmed the same positions, calling for de-escalation and restraint, expressing grave concern over the continuation of the war and the serious threat it poses to regional and global peace and security, in addition to its humanitarian, political and economic impacts.
They emphasised the necessity of an immediate cessation of military actions and the avoidance of expanding the scope of the conflict. The ministers also stressed that military solutions will only contribute to deepening the crisis and increasing the suffering of the peoples of the region, calling for the causes of the conflict to be addressed through constructive dialogue and diplomacy.
Earlier, an oil tanker MKD VYOM, flagged to the Republic of the Marshall Islands, was attacked by an unmanned surface vessel (USV) approximately 52 nautical miles off the coast of the Sultanate of Oman.
The vessel was carrying an estimated 59,463 metric tonnes of cargo. The attack triggered a fire and explosion within the main engine room, resulting in the fatality of one crew member of Indian nationality.
In coordination with the Maritime Security Centre, the tanker's 21 crew members — 16 Indian nationals, four Bangladeshi nationals and one Ukrainian national — were evacuated via the commercial vessel MV SAND, which flies the flag of the Republic of Panama. Simultaneously, a vessel from the Royal Navy of Oman is monitoring the condition of the stricken tanker and issuing the necessary navigational warnings to vessels transiting the same maritime zone.
NO ILL WILL
Iran, which launched retaliatory action in the Middle East after US-Israeli strikes since the weekend, bears no ill will towards Gulf countries, its foreign minister said on Monday.
"Iran harbours no hostility towards the Gulf countries and is determined to pursue good neighbourly relations with them," Abbas Araghchi said during a phone call with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. According to his ministry, Araghchi said Iran's "defensive response against US military bases... should not be seen as an Iranian attack against these countries". - Agencies
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