America has lost control of its own foreign policy: Omani Foreign Minister

Friday, 20 March 2026 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, in an op-ed in The Economist, warns that “America has lost control of its own foreign policy”, saying Washington’s allies should help extricate it “from this unwanted entanglement”.

“Twice in nine months the United States and Iran have been on the verge of a real deal,” said Albusaidi.

“It was a shock but not a surprise when on February 28th – just a few hours after the latest and most substantive talks – Israel and America again launched an unlawful military strike against the peace that had briefly appeared really possible.”

Iran’s retaliation against what it claims are American targets on its neighbours was an “inevitable, if deeply regrettable and completely unacceptable, result,” he said.

For Iran, faced with a war to “terminate the Islamic Republic, this was probably the only rational option available to the Iranian leadership”.

“The American administration’s greatest miscalculation, of course, was allowing itself to be drawn into this war in the first place. This is not America’s war, and there is no likely scenario in which both Israel and America will get what they want from it,” added Albusaidi.