TEHRAN- On September 11, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, arrived in Oman on a long trip, which was described as a private trip. 

Mohammad bin Salman's five-day stay in Oman is considered as one of the longest trips since he was selected as the heir to the throne. 

Before the trip, news outlets reported that Sultan Haitham bin Tariq of Oman will meet Mohammed bin Salman in the southwestern Omani city of Salalah, near the border with Yemen.

Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman Al Saud, along with a high-ranking military delegation, accompanied the crown prince and attended a public meeting with Sultan Haitham. 

According to unverified news reports, meetings have been held between representatives of the government of Sana'a, where Muscat is the capital of their second government, with representatives of Saudi Arabia led by Khaled bin Salman, discussing the latest developments in Yemen. 

While Muhammad bin Salman was in Muscat, a delegation of Ansarullah led by Muhammad Abdul Salam made a joint trip with an Omani delegation to Riyadh. 

This is despite the fact that no representatives of the allied states linked to the coalition against Yemen were present in the Riyadh meeting.

Though the absence of parties active under the umbrella of the coalition in the Riyadh gathering was met with the silence of their leaders, sources close to these parties strongly criticized that they were not involved in the talks.

On the other hand, the Southern Transitional Council representing the separatist forces in Southern Yemen also participated in the meetings.

This could be the key to better understand Mohammed bin Salman's visit to Oman amid the emerging competition with the United Arab Emirates in Yemen. 

This was evident during the Yemen war when armed clashes took place in Southern Yemen, most notably in 2019 and 2020 when separatist forces, especially in the city of Aden, backed by the UAE on one hand and troops backed by Saudi Arabia on the other, exchanged heavy fire, killing scores of soldiers. The clashes, at the time, made headlines of a rift emerging between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. 

The Southern Transitional Council, which is backed by the UAE, threatened to reject and thwart the Yemen peace efforts in Riyadh and demanded a guarantee for the secession of southern Yemen. 

In a statement, the council said that it "underlines its desire to achieve a comprehensive and sustainable political process that results in an unconditional outcome. These talks should be to ensure that all issues are addressed and, above all, acknowledge the aspirations of the people of the south." 

But Riyadh responded negatively to these demands and rejected a proposal by General Aidarous Abdulaziz al-Zubaidi, the head of the Southern Transitional Council, as well as the presence of a deputy of the Southern Transitional Council in the negotiations.

There is no doubt that Oman has always been a peace-loving and mediating country, and this is the main goal of the Sultanate's foreign policy doctrine.

However, in the case of Yemen, Oman has not only played the role of a mediator but has also been seeking to secure the benefits of Yemen and creating conditions so that no further harm comes to the war-torn country. 

All regional states have gained a lot of experience from the eight-year war in Yemen along with their own security challenges, and Oman is no exception. 

The last major war in Oman was the more than ten-year crisis between the Dhofar separatists and two anti-monarchy communist movements in the south of the country on the border with Yemen. 

The fighting, which ended in 1976, and spilled over into Yemen, played an effective role in the division of southern Yemen and the establishment of a communist government in the South. 

With the independence of South Yemen, the separatist elements gained an important strategic depth and were able to advance towards the north of Oman.

Dhofar, which is different from other parts of Oman in terms of population, history, religion, language, race, and even economy despite the positive and constructive policies of the Omani government towards these areas, has always remained susceptible to challenges for the central government of Oman.
Considering this situation and taking lessons from the war on its border with Yemen, the government of Oman has defined a red line toward the Yemen crisis for itself, which is the division of Yemen. 

Amid this geopolitics, the Omani government's policy found allies in the nearby Yemeni provinces of al-Mahra and Hadhramaut and made attempts to ensure that the balance of the war does not end in favor of the separatists in the south with support from the UAE. 

This policy is in line with the same goals of the Sana'a government in order to unify the entire Yemen. 

Likewise, Saudi Arabia is supportive of the position taken by Muscat and Sana'a amid its differences with the UAE on Yemen and the possibility of Abu Dhabi strengthening its influence again in the country's south. 

The government of Oman does not support any side that pushes for the division of Yemen but considers any secession there as a danger to its own territorial integrity.

Not long ago, Sultan Haitham published a symbolic picture of himself with a guerilla warfare outift, a military belt and a gun on his waist during a trip to Dhofar. The publication of this meaningful image in Dhofar on the border with Yemen has led experts to interpret it as a kind of message that Oman is ready to intervene in maintaining the integrity of Yemen. 

It should be noted that Sultan Haitham's trip to Dhofar and five days ago to Salalah in the Dhofar Governorate was made at a time when the Kharif season had ended in the region and Sultan Haitham did not go there to rest, as he recently took a one-month vacation in Oman to rest.

Meanwhile, the visit of Major General Matar bin Salim al Balushi, the Commander of the Royal Army of Oman, to Iran on Monday has evoked interesting talking points and political views. 

The trip, which coincided with the negotiations in Riyadh and after Bin Salman's trip to Oman, can be linked to the different trips mentioned above and peace talks in regard to Yemen.

Although it has been said that the Riyadh negotiations include a ceasefire agreement and the signing of a number of memorandums of understanding, they include the payment of salaries for Yemeni civil workers, the reopening of roads, expansion of commercial flights from Sana'a airport to five other destinations as well as solving the complex problem regarding prisoners and detainees. 

What appears to be the case is that beyond these reported issues are other matters that have been discussed, which only time will tell what they transpire to.