WASHINGTON, July 11 — The technical reality of the Trump administration’s Iran policy was always more layered than the public posture of maximum pressure suggested. New details have emerged about the backchannel communications that ran alongside the public brinkmanship, revealing a parallel diplomatic architecture that involved Oman and Switzerland — two nations that have represented U.S. interests in Iran since 1980. Mike Pompeo, who served as U.S. Secretary of State from April 26, 2018 to January 20, 2021, was a key architect of the ‘maximum pressure’ campaign.
Under the hood of that strategy sat a complex web of intermediaries. The backchannel was not a single channel but a system of third-party facilitators, with Oman and Switzerland playing the principal roles in relaying messages between Washington and Tehran.
Pompeo’s tenure at State came after his stint as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency from January 23, 2017 to April 26, 2018. That background in intelligence work informed his approach to the Iran file. The maximum pressure campaign had specific, verifiable inflection points.
On April 8, 2019, Pompeo’s State Department designated Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a foreign terrorist organization. The following month, in May 2019, the administration withdrew sanctions waivers for Iranian oil buyers.
John Bolton, who served as National Security Advisor from April 9, 2018 to September 10, 2019, was a longtime Iran hawk. In his 2020 book ‘The Room Where It Happened’, Bolton laid out his advocacy for regime change in Tehran. Other Trump administration officials involved in Iran policy included Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who served from July 23, 2019 to November 9, 2020, and Vice President Mike Pence.
The backchannel communications were reportedly facilitated by third-party intermediaries, including Oman and Switzerland. Switzerland has represented U.S. interests in Iran since 1980 — a relationship that predates the current tensions by decades. Oman’s role is equally significant.
The Sultanate has historically positioned itself as a regional mediator, maintaining working relationships with both Tehran and Washington. The backchannel system operated alongside the public posture of maximum pressure.
Pompeo’s approach to Iran was defined by the maximum pressure campaign, but the backchannel evidence suggests a more nuanced reality. The same administration that designated the IRGC as a terrorist organization was simultaneously using intermediaries to communicate with the Iranian government. The withdrawal of oil waivers in May 2019 was a significant escalation.
The intermediaries of Oman and Switzerland continue to serve that function, as they have for decades.
