Editing Qaboos bin Said (section)

== Rise to power ==
{{main|1970 Omani coup d'état}}
[[File:President Ronald Reagan during the arrival Ceremony for Sultan Qaboos bin Said of the Sultanate of Oman.jpg|left|thumb|224x224px|[[Ronald Reagan]] with Sultan Qaboos bin Said during a state visit in 1983]]
Qaboos acceded to the throne on 23 July 1970 following [[1970 Omani coup d'état|a successful coup against his father]], with the aim of ending the country's isolation and using its oil revenue for modernization and development.<ref name="mXC7W">[http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/PROFILE-Omans-Sultan-Qaboos-bin-Said-2011-03-24T110027Z PROFILE-Oman's Sultan Qaboos bin Said] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006092934/http://www.forexyard.com/en/news/PROFILE-Omans-Sultan-Qaboos-bin-Said-2011-03-24T110027Z |date=6 October 2011}}. Forexyard.com (25 March 2011). Retrieved on 14 July 2011.</ref> He declared that the country would no longer be known as [[Muscat and Oman]], but would change its name to "the Sultanate of Oman" in order to better reflect its political unity.<ref name="ZR8pf">{{Cite web|url=https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/an-enduring-relationship-a-history-of-frienship-between-the-royal-air-force-and-the-royal-air-force-of-oman/a-history-of-oman.aspx|title=A History of Oman|website=rafmuseum.org.uk|access-date=26 December 2019|archive-date=9 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141009072134/https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/research/online-exhibitions/an-enduring-relationship-a-history-of-frienship-between-the-royal-air-force-and-the-royal-air-force-of-oman/a-history-of-oman.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The coup was supported by the British, with [[Ian Cobain]] writing that it was "planned in London by [[MI6]] and by civil servants at the [[Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)|Ministry of Defence]] and the [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]]" and sanctioned by the Prime Minister, [[Harold Wilson]].<ref name="edZnL">{{cite book |last=Cobain |first=Ian|date=2016 |title=The History Thieves |location=London |publisher=Portobello Books |page=87 |isbn=9781846275838}}</ref>

The first pressing problem that Qaboos bin Said faced as sultan was an armed communist insurgency from [[South Yemen]], the [[Dhofar Rebellion]] (1962–1976). The sultanate eventually defeated the incursion with help from the [[Mohammad Reza Pahlavi|Shah of Iran]], Jordanian troops sent by his friend King [[Hussein of Jordan]], British Special Forces and the [[Royal Air Force]].<ref name="BecR6">{{Cite web|url=https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/1984/CSA.htm|title=The Insurgency In Oman, 1962-1976|website=globalsecurity.org|access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref>