[“It was bound for an “Iranian business with premises in the UK,””]
Yeah. Oman, tripped the radiation detector, Iran connection. That’s the Trifecta right there.
Oman is very pro-western. I lived there in the past. Women drive, women vote and are not required to veil. Those that grew up in the cities rarely veiled. Those from the interior did. There was absolutely no rules about veiling. Women could be anything the wanted. Education was encourged and subsidized for all.
What I really liked about Oman is my wife could go down to the Souk (the bazaar) by herself in western clothing and be absolutely safe. Safer than 5th Avenue in New York City.
Sultan Qaboos took Oman out of the classic Muslim society and into the modern world. He sadly passed away a few years ago. He was a great Sultan. One act of his before his death was to be at the opening of a Catholic Church in Shalala. That was a great symbol of westernism.
Upon his death he appointed a successor not of his family. It was one he thought could carry on his deeds.
Sultan Qaboos was educated in England at Sandhurst.