Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor Abdolnasser Hemmati has travelled to Oman to discuss deeper economic ties with Persian Gulf sultanate.
Hemmati arrived in the capital Muscat on Tuesday on an invitation by the Omani officials, according to a report on the CBI website which was covered by local Iranian media outlets.
Without elaborating, CBI’s public relations office had said in a Monday tweet that the purpose of Hemmati’s trip to Oman would be to deepen Iran’s banking and trade relations with Oman “in light of the new international developments”.
Oman has acted as a mediator between Iran and the United States in the past years, especially on efforts meant to clinch an international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in 2015.
Experts believe the country could seek to play a similar role in a potential push by the new US government to return Washington to the nuclear deal after a former US president withdrew from the agreement in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions on Tehran.
Starting his two-day trip, Hemmati met Omani Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Al Busaidi.
Al Busaidi said in the meeting that Oman was in search of better economic ties with Iran mainly because of the important role played by Iran in the region.
Hemmati also told Oman’s Minister of Commerce and Industry and Investment Promotion Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef in a later meeting that private companies from Iran and Oman could play a major role in expanding economic ties between the two countries.
Iran and Oman are on the opposite side of the Strait of Hormuz, a key waterway in the Persian Gulf trough which a fifth of international oil trade is accommodated.
Oman has remained a major destination for Iranian farming exports despite the US sanctions on Iran and restrictions imposed on trade since early last year because of the coronavirus pandemic.