Sudan follows Saudis, cuts ties with Iran

The Sudanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today that Khartoum has decided to sever diplomatic ties with Iran. A former Deputy FA Minister expressed regret at the haste with which the decision was taken.

In today’s statement, the Ministry referred to its statement of last week in which it strongly condemned “the heinous aggression staged against the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad city, in a flagrant violation of the International Law”.

The Ministry affirmed “Sudan’s solidarity with sister Saudi Arabia in confronting the Iranian conspiracies”, the Sudan News Agency (Suna) reported.

The execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, together with 47 others convicted for terrorism, prompted outrage in predominantly Shiite Iran. Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran the same day. In Iran’s north-eastern religious city of Mashhad, parts of the Saudi consulate were torched.

Khartoum has fostered good relations with Iran since the current regime came into power via a coup d’état in 1989. Yet, in March this year, the relations cooled down after Sudan opted to support Saudi Arabia in its military campaign against Shiite Houthi insurgents in Yemen.

‘Prompted by emotions’

However, according to former Deputy FA Minister Faroug Abdelrahman, Khartoum was too hasty in its decision to break off diplomatic relations with Iran.

In an interview with Radio Dabanga today, he said that “of course no one is pleased with attacks on Saudi missions abroad, but it was expected that the Sudanese authorities would react in a more prudent way instead of taking such a decision prompted by emotions”.

Ambassador Abdelrahman pointed to the diplomatic role Sudan used to play “in the African, Arab and Islamic arenas” in the past.

He expects that the Sudanese-Iranian ties will be restored soon, “just as the Saudi-Iranian relations will improve. Therefore, it would have been better for Khartoum if it had waited a little before reacting so strongly. Sudan could play the role of mediator between Saudi Arabia and Iran.”

‘Inconsistency’

The Ambassador regretted the “loss of weight” of Sudan in this way, “caused by an apparent inconsistency in the decision-making.

"The decision to cut the ties with Iran was taken without the knowledge of FA Minister Ibrahim Ghandour. The FA Ministry is supposed to hand recommendations to the Presidency, and the government then decides,” Abdelrahman said. “Yet, it seems that the decision came from the top and the Ministry is supposed to implement it.

“In the past, the government based its decisions on recommendations of political commissions and studies. A decision as this one, to cut diplomatic relations with another country, was made only in case of direct aggression” he explained.