Haisam bin Tariq Al Saeed

The current Sultan , Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Oman .

He served as Minister of Culture and Heritage, Minister of Finance, and Minister of Foreign Affairs .

He was born on October 11, 1955, as the son of Tariq bin Taimur, the uncle of former Sultan Qaboos bin Said . His mother is Shahwana bint Hamud bin Ahmad Al Busaidi Seidi. They are a large family with eight siblings, including six younger brothers, Talal, Qais, Asad, Shihab, Aadham, and Faris, and two younger sisters, Amal and Nawal. Among them, the younger sister, Nawal bint Tariq Sayyid, was married to former Sultan Qaboos bin Said from 1976 to 1979. This was in accordance with the political landscape of the Omani royal family, where incestuous marriage was legal in order to strengthen royal power and prevent external dispersion of power .

Among the brothers, Assad bin Tariq Sayyed serves as Deputy Prime Minister for International Cooperation, and Shihab bin Tariq Sayed serves as Deputy Prime Minister for Defense. The remaining four younger brothers have not entered politics and are all active as businessmen.

He graduated from Oxford University in England in 1979 and, as a sports enthusiast, served as the first president of the Oman Football Association in the 1980s. He later served as Deputy Minister for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1986 to 1994, and as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 2002. In March 2002, he was appointed Minister of Heritage and Culture, and the following year, 2003, he served as Chairman of the National Census Committee.

Even before his accession to the sultanate, he frequently appeared on the diplomatic stage, most notably greeting Britain's Prince Charles and Crown Princess Camilla , who visited Oman in 2016. Currently, he serves as the chairman of the Future Vision Committee of 'Oman 2040', Oman's mid- to long-term national development plan, and also serves as honorary chairman of the Oman Association for the Disabled. He maintained close relationships with major merchant families in Oman even before entering politics, making it easier for him to occupy various important positions.

On January 10, 2020, Haitham's cousin, former Sultan Qaboos bin Said, died without an heir. The following day, Haitham was elected as the next Sultan according to former Sultan Qaboos' will and took the official oath of office at an emergency session of the Omani Parliament held in Al Bustan.[2] “We will follow the path of the late Sultan,” he said in his first public speech broadcast on state television immediately after his coronation. “Our country’s foreign policy is to live in peace with other countries and peoples. We do not interfere in the internal affairs of foreign countries and respect national sovereignty and international cooperation.”[3]

From the beginning of his reign, Haisham exercised absolute power, holding the positions of Prime Minister, Supreme Commander of the Military, Minister of National Defense, Minister of Finance, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Chairman of the Central Bank of Oman. Afterwards, when state affairs reached a stable track, a major reorganization took place on August 18, 2020, appointing Badr bin Hamhad Al Busaidi as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sultan bin Salem bin Said Al Habsi as Minister of Finance, and Taimur bin Assad Al Said as Chairman of the Central Bank, decentralizing the role of power. In September 2020, he allowed his distant relative, the last Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah of the Sultanate of Zanzibar, to return to the country.[4]

It shows a somewhat progressive aspect on human rights issues. At the beginning of his term, he showed himself as a reforming monarch by signing a series of major international human rights conventions, including the United Nations Convention against Torture, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the Act on the Protection of Enforced Disappeared Persons. He also revised the National Basic Law to reaffirm freedom of expression and thought. In particular, the law that allowed the state to wiretap and inspect individuals' phone calls and social media mail was completely abolished, and freedom of religious rituals was also broadly guaranteed under the condition that it does not harm public order or violate public morals.

On January 11, 2021, a royal decree established a new provision that the eldest son of the incumbent sultan would succeed to the throne, introducing the title of crown prince for the first time in Oman's history. Accordingly, he declared that his eldest son , Tejazin bin Haitham Al Said, the Minister of Sports, would be installed as crown prince. #

Diplomatically, in October 2020, it became the first Gulf country to re-dispatch an ambassador to Damascus since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war . Oman reduced or closed local embassies in 2012 after the Syrian government violently suppressed protesters, but has begun to normalize them again.

To overcome the financial crisis, the Omani government suddenly introduced value-added tax in April 2021. It was slower than the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain, but faster than Qatar or Kuwait. However, as economic alienation grew, including rising unemployment and corruption, nationwide anti-government protests broke out between May and June 2021. At that time, some protesters were arrested and then released. Accordingly, a mid-term fiscal plan was established and strong fiscal reforms were implemented, drastically reducing the serious fiscal deficit of 12.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) from 2015 to 2020 to 3.6% in 2021. Then, in 2022, it recorded a surplus of about 5% of GDP, successfully turning into a fiscal surplus for the first time in nine years since 2013.[5]

In addition, in 2023, the $5.2 billion 'Oman Future Fund' was approved to promote economic diversification, and plans to build 'Sultan Haitham City', a large-scale new city development project, were announced. In the same year, a new tourism law was also promulgated, helping to revitalize the domestic economy.

Sultan Haitham successively visited major friendly countries such as Saudi Arabia , Qatar , and the United Kingdom . In particular, the visit to Saudi Arabia was the first official visit by the King of Oman in over 10 years. During his visit to England, he had an audience with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle and was awarded the Order of St. Michael and St. George (GCMG). The following year, in September 2022, when Queen Elizabeth II passed away, she visited Buckingham Palace in person to express condolences to King Charles III.

It has been called the Switzerland of the Middle East and has played a role as a mediator in the Middle East while thoroughly implementing Oman's friendly and neutral policy . In May 2023, just two days after brokering a prisoner exchange between Iran and Belgium , Iran Visited Tehran to discuss regional diplomatic and security issues. In addition, during the recent outbreak of the 12-day war, he spoke on the phone with Iranian President Massoud Fezezhikian and urged the two sides to ease tensions and return to dialogue, emphasizing the need to stop the destructive armed conflict. Then, in May 2025, it successfully mediated a ceasefire agreement between the United States and Houthi rebels.

In terms of domestic policy, the country took the unprecedented step of introducing a personal income tax for the first time among Gulf countries. Starting in 2028, the Omani government plans to impose a 5% income tax on high-income earners exceeding 42,000 Omani rials (about $109,000) per year. This figure only applies to about 1% of the total population. Government officials explained that this tax system is a measure to improve social equity and reduce dependence on oil and gas, which account for about 70% of national revenue. The revenue raised by the new income tax is estimated to be less than 0.5% of GDP.

On March 9, 2026, he became the first Arab leader to send a congratulatory message to Mojtaba Khamenei, who was crowned as Iran's new supreme leader , making it clear that he would maintain friendly relations with Iran. Historically, the relationship between Oman and Iran is good, with the Pahlavi dynasty sending Iranian troops to save the Omani monarchy when it was on the verge of being toppled by communist rebels. In addition, Oman is an economic partner who controls the Strait of Hormuz by dividing it in half, and Oman believes in a third sect, the Ibadi sect, which is neither Sunni nor Shia , so the relationship is better with Iran than with other Arab countries.