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.
No disrespect intended, didn’t mean to imply any official involvement. Oman is probably a big shipping hub around the Gulf and Middle East in general. I bet a lot of shady things pass through there unnoticed.
This might even have been a bad-guy test to find out how sensitive everyone’s radiation detectors were.