The United States expressed apprehension on Wednesday, regarding purported arms deliveries from Iran to Sudan’s military. Sudan’s army is currently engaged in a lethal conflict with paramilitary groups purportedly backed by the United Arab Emirates and Russia.
The United States voiced concern Wednesday at reported arms shipments by adversary Iran to Sudan’s army, which is locked in a deadly war with paramilitaries allegedly receiving Emirati and Russian support.
John Godfrey, the US Ambassador to Sudan, said Washington was “deeply concerned by external support” to both the Sudan Armed Forces and rival Rapid Support Forces, known by the acronyms SAF and RSF, respectively.
“There are reports about resumed ties between Sudan and Iran that could reportedly include Iranian material support to SAF, which is also very troubling and a source of great concern for us,” Godfrey told reporters.
Without naming other countries, Godfrey said the United States has “urged external actors to refrain from providing material support to the two belligerent parties.”
“It prolongs the fighting, extends the war. It also reduces the prospects for finding a negotiated exit from the conflict,” he said.
The RSF last month posted on social media what it said was debris from an Iranian-made Mohajer drone belonging to the army.
Bloomberg News also reported, quoting Western officials, that Iran is supplying weapons to Sudan’s army.
Sudan under former dictator Omar al-Bashir, who was toppled in 2019, developed close relations with Iran’s clerical state.
With the Sudanese army in control along the Red Sea, a large Iranian presence would alarm Western powers. On the other side of the key maritime transit lane, Yemen’s dominant Houthi insurgents have been firing on international shipping in avowed solidarity with the Palestinians.
Khalil Wakim, with AFP
