Oman summons Iran's ambassador over drone strikes on Omani soil; Iran reports attacks on its own island near the Strait of Hormuz; BeiDou-guided missiles are defeating US Patriot jamming

Summary

Oman summoned Iran's ambassador to Muscat on July 12 and handed him a formal protest note after Iranian drones struck Omani facilities in the Musandam and Al Wusta governorates, a direct attack on a country that had served as a mediation channel throughout the Iran-US war. The attack came roughly 14 hours after Iran's Foreign Minister Araghchi had met Omani counterparts in Muscat on Hormuz ceasefire talks, leaving without approving Oman's two-corridor proposal. Iran separately reported new attacks on military targets on its largest island near the Strait of Hormuz, while the Irgc declared the strait closed again "until the end of US interference in this region," a condition the US disputes.

A US defence technology analysis says Iran's Zolfaghar ballistic missiles, guided by China's BeiDou-3 satellite navigation, maintained 98 percent accuracy under US electronic jamming during the day's strikes on bases across four Gulf states. BeiDou's military-grade B3A signal uses frequency-hopping that shifts channels faster than any jammer can follow, and analysts put the Zolfaghar's circular error probability at under 5 meters. Both Patriot and THAAD interceptor stockpiles are at critical depletion: US forces fired approximately 402 Patriot interceptors in the first four days of Operation Epic Fury (equivalent to 18 months of Lockheed production) and burned through an estimated 80 percent of the US THAAD inventory. The Pentagon requested $87.6 billion in emergency supplemental spending from Congress. US Central Command said US forces have struck more than 300 Iranian military targets over three nights.

The split

Oman's state-affiliated Oman Observer filed the ambassador-summons in formal diplomatic protocol language, calling the strikes "irresponsible," reflecting the gravity of a country whose neutrality was once the war's only functioning safety valve having that neutrality bombed away.

Iran's reformist diaspora press (London-based Iran International) focused on the failed Muscat talks the day before: Araghchi arrived Saturday, heard Oman's two-corridor Hormuz proposal, and left without approving it, taking the framework back to Tehran for "internal review." The outlet's frame: Iran's own factional divisions, not US intransigence, broke the last available off-ramp.

Pakistani media (The Express Tribune) covered the crisis through the lens of the Islamabad MoU, which Pakistan brokered alongside Qatar. With Oman now a strike target, Pakistan's FM Ishaq Dar is conducting parallel phone calls with Tehran and Riyadh, making Islamabad the only functional back-channel. The Pakistani press treats this as a test of whether the MoU framework survives.

India's state broadcaster (Akashvani) ran the Petroleum Ministry's reassurance: 70 percent of India's crude now comes from outside the Strait of Hormuz, with 60-day crude stockpiles. The framing is calming, not alarmed. India's interest in the story is almost entirely economic, and New Delhi has been conspicuously silent on the military dimensions.

China's official press (Xinhua, Global Times) called for "dialogue and consultation" and said Beijing is "deeply concerned" about renewed hostilities, without mentioning BeiDou. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters that "China's BeiDou is also the world's BeiDou," framing the system as open civilian infrastructure. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission notes China granted Iran military-tier BeiDou access in 2021. Beijing's simultaneous provision of the weapon and call for de-escalation is the split it doesn't discuss.

By the numbers

• 14 hours between Araghchi's Saturday meeting in Muscat and Iranian drones hitting Oman's Musandam peninsula
• 6 Gulf and Middle Eastern states struck by Iran on July 12 (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Jordan, Oman, UAE)
• 140+ Iranian military targets struck by US forces on the same night
• 402 Patriot interceptors fired by US forces in the first 4 days of Operation Epic Fury (18 months of factory production)
• ~80 percent of US THAAD inventory depleted; no new deliveries expected before 2027
• 98 percent accuracy maintained by BeiDou-guided Zolfaghar missiles under US jamming; CEP under 5 meters
• 45 BeiDou satellites in orbit vs. 24 for US GPS; military B3A signal granted to Iran in 2021
• $87.6 billion: Pentagon's emergency supplemental request to Congress
• 70 percent of India's crude now sourced outside Hormuz; 60-day reserves in stock
• Hormuz shipping traffic down roughly 67 percent since June ceasefire collapsed

Why it matters

Oman's diplomatic protest represents a significant fracture: Iran has now attacked the one Gulf state that had kept its channel to Tehran open throughout the conflict, the day after hosting Iran's own foreign minister. If Oman withdraws from its mediation role, the US and Iran lose their principal back-channel; Pakistan's Islamabad MoU framework is the only remaining architecture, and it is already fraying. The BeiDou guidance development, if accurate, means US electronic jamming is no longer a reliable defensive layer, reducing the conflict to a race between Iranian missile production and US interceptor resupply schedules that the Pentagon itself says will take three or more years. And the reported strikes on Iran's own island near Hormuz introduce a further dimension: it is unclear whether Iran is destroying its own facilities to deny them to US forces, or whether those attacks originated from elsewhere.

What to watch

• Whether Oman formally suspends its mediation role between the US and Iran following this attack on Omani soil, and whether Pakistan's Islamabad MoU framework can absorb the load
• US Congressional response to the $87.6 billion supplemental request, and whether the THAAD resupply contract (targeting 400 per year by 2032) accelerates
• Whether China responds to direct US pressure over BeiDou access to Iran, or maintains the "open infrastructure" framing
• Whether the IRGC's stated closure condition ("until the end of US interference") is a negotiating position or a permanent posture

updates:

• date: "2026-07-13" text: "US launched fresh strikes on Iran early July 13, citing IRGC threats to Hormuz shipping. Pakistan's FM Ishaq Dar called Iranian FM Araghchi urging restraint under the Islamabad MoU. India's Petroleum Ministry said 70 percent of crude imports are now secured outside Hormuz, with 60-day stockpiles. Pentagon confirmed $87.6 billion supplemental request to Congress for Operation Epic Fury costs."