Iranian Military Base in Sudan Controvercy

News Report – The Citizen

According to Wall Street Journal news article published recently, Iran unsuccessfully pressed Sudan to let it build a permanent naval base on the African country’s Red Sea coast, something that would have allowed Tehran to monitor maritime traffic to and from the Suez Canal and Israel.

The information in that news article was attributed to a Sudanese intelligence advisor named Ahmed Hassan Mohammed who said, according to the WSJ, that Iran offered
arms in exchange for building a naval base in Sudan. But Khartoum reportedly rejected Tehran’s proposal to avoid cutting relations with the US and “Israel.

In response to what is published in WSJ, Foreign Minister Ali Al-Sadiq rejected those allegations affirming that the news article is incorrect, adding that Iran has never asked Sudan to build an Iranian base in the recent meetings between the officials of the two countries to resume their diplomatic ties.

On the other hand, the Sudanese General Intelligence Services issued a statement affirming that they don’t have any advisor named
Ahmed Hassan Mohamed.

For his part, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani denied that his country had submitted a request to the Sudanese government to establish an Iranian military base in the Red Sea in exchange for its military support.

Kanaani said in his weekly press conference that what was mentioned regarding the establishment of an Iranian military base in Sudan is baseless.

From the above realities it is apparent that some foreign parties are fishing in troubled water through taking advantage of the current unrest in Sudan.