Muscat: Oman has indicated to the US that there were inaccuracies in a US media report quoting Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Oman's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Talking about the release of American hiker Sarah Shourd after 13 months in Iranian prison, Omani foreign minister was quoted in the US media as saying that the White House was confused because it was working on several different tracks at the same time.
The US media report quoted the Oman Minister of Foreign Affairs as saying there were delays in securing Shourd’s release "due to the White House administration".

He was reported as saying that President Obama had cleared up any problems. “It was 'easy for us to talk directly to the president'," the US media report quoted him as saying.

Philip J. Crowley, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs, said in Washington that the US government was not aware of any phone call between Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed and President Barack Obama.

There was no response from Oman’s Foreign Affairs Ministry when Gulf News tried to contact representatives for their reaction.

While replying to a question about Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah’s interview, Crowley said: “Actually, when we saw that piece emerge earlier this morning, our ambassador checked back in with the Omani Government, and they indicated that there are a number of inaccuracies in that story".

“For specifics I’ll obviously defer to the Omani Government, but in that story it alluded to a call between the Sultan and the President, and we’re not aware of any such call. So I would just tread cautiously on that particular piece.”

Meanwhile, he said that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had a brief conversation with Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed on Friday to thank the Omani Government for the role it played in the release of Shourd from Evin prison in Iran.

“And, they agreed to stay engaged and to work co-operatively to do everything possible to bring about the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal,” he revealed.

Crowley added that the Sultan and Secretary had agreed that the United States and Oman would continue to work collaboratively to seek the release of Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal.

Talking about inaccuracies in the US story quoting Yousuf Bin Alawi Bin Abdullah, Crowley said: “Well, there was a suggestion that there was not strong consultation between our two countries over the past year plus regarding this case, and in fact, there’s been very significant and regular dialogue between the United States and Oman as well between the United States and Switzerland on this case”.

“So, the suggestion that there was not an emphasis within our government to seek their release till recently is actually quite false,” Crowley said.