The Gulf of Oman lies southeast of Iran, connecting the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf to the Arabian Sea. Iran’s Sistan-Baluchestan and Hormozgan provinces border it. Chabahar, Iran’s only deep-water oceanic port, is located on this coast.

As shipping volumes increased through the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman became more significant strategically. Deep-water ports, including Chabahar (Iran) and Gwadar (Pakistan), reinforce its emerging role in regional economic corridors.

The Gulf of Oman has been a major maritime route since antiquity, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean and the trade networks of South Asia, East Africa, and Arabia. Arab, Persian, and later Portuguese navigators sailed these waters. The Portuguese established fortresses on the Omani coast in the 16th century to control the sea lane. After the Safavid expulsion of the Portuguese from Hormuz in 1622, the gulf’s commerce reverted to Arab and Persian merchants. In the 19th and 20th centuries the British maintained a strong naval presence in the gulf as part of their Indian Ocean imperial system.

The Gulf of Oman is today one of the most strategically important bodies of water in the world. All traffic exiting the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz enters the Gulf of Oman, making it the chokepoint beyond the chokepoint. Iranian military strategy has evolved to extend deterrence into the Gulf of Oman through the Jask naval base and the Goreh-Jask oil pipeline. The US 5th Fleet and the Indian Navy both maintain active presences in the gulf. Chabahar port, on Iran’s Gulf of Oman coast, is the focus of Indian strategic investment designed to give India access to Afghanistan and Central Asia independently of Pakistan.