This six-year period is of particular interest because of the coup d'etat which saw the deposition of Sultan Said bin Taimur and the accession of his son Sultan Qabus bin Said. Whereas under Sultan Said Britain was closely bound to Oman in areas of foreign and defence policy, under Sultan Qabus the country moved away from reliance on Britain, opening up to international influences and forging ahead with internal social policy. The progress on social reform had some impact on the strength of the insurrection in Dhofar and in 1971 the Dhofar Liberation Front agreed to work with the new administration. The other two main rebel fronts continued to oppose Sultan Qabus. However, the new Sultan's policies of regional cooperation led, by 1976, to regional powers such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and the UAE offering military aid and to an agreement to a cease-fire.
