In order to ensure stability, the regional security system of the Persian Gulf should also include Iran. This was announced by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Badr al-Busaidi, during a lecture at Cambridge University in Great Britain. "For almost half a century, Iran has been excluded from any significant participation in regional security structures, which has had extremely negative consequences not only for Iran itself, but also for the entire region. Any Gulf security architecture that does not include [Iran] is inherently unstable. It is structurally not viable," he said. The minister's words were quoted in the statement published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Oman. Al-Busaidi also pointed out the excessive dependence of Middle Eastern states on foreign powers, which complicates the settlement of issues related to Iran's nuclear program and freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. According to him, such dependence is accompanied by the promotion of the interests of third countries, which do not always coincide with regional interests.