Trump threatens to bomb Oman if it ‘gets in the way’ of Strait of Hormuz talks with Iran

President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to strike Oman if it interferes in a potential deal over control of the Strait of Hormuz .

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the s--- out of them,” Trump said in a phone interview with Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst.

Yingst relayed the quote from Trump on air, which he said came in response to questions about talks between Oman and Iran over the status of the strait. No audio of the interview was provided. The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about the remarks.

Trump was asked to expand on those comments while speaking to reporters in the Oval Office later in the day. “I don’t think they behaved very well, but we’d handle them very easily, just like we do other things,” Trump said.

Oman, which borders Yemen, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia and is near the Strait of Hormuz, has been negotiating with Iran over the vital shipping route . Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency said Saturday that Iran had reached an agreement with Oman on a plan for traffic in the waterway.

Monday marks the end of a 60-day deadline that the U.S. and Iran agreed to in June to end the war and reach an agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

Shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz nearly ground to a halt over the weekend, with just 13 ships passing through the waterway, including three Sunday, according to maritime traffic tracker MarineTraffic.

Trump floated the idea last week of declaring the strait a U.S. territory. Asked Monday to elaborate on those remarks, the president said, “We have total control over the strait,” adding that a U.S.-imposed blockade “has been very effective.”