LONDON: Oman’s foreign minister on Tuesday called for a non-aggression pact in the Middle East at a meeting in the UK Parliament.

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi addressed the meeting about solving the crises in the Middle East, hosted by the chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, Emily Thornberry MP, and the Council for Arab-British Understanding.

Albusaidi said such a pact would require a security framework including the six Gulf Cooperation Council states, as well as Iraq and Iran. Excluding the latter, he added, would be “inherently unstable” and likely to fail.

In a statement, Thornberry said: “Having just visited Oman on a parliamentary delegation earlier this month, I can attest to the very strong relations between the two countries.

“Sayyid Badr has played an extraordinary role in attempting to facilitate and mediate a US-Iran deal in eight rounds of talks.

“All of us should warmly support these heroic efforts, as bold and effective diplomacy has to be the way forward to end this crisis.”

The meeting came in the wake of the state visit of Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to the UK.

During the visit, agreements were struck in areas including green energy, artificial intelligence, data centers, critical minerals and space, reaffirming the strong historic ties between the UK and Oman.