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Sudan Plans Restoring Diplomatic Relations with Iran

Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq Ali met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Baku, Azerbaijan (Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Twitter)
Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq Ali met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Baku, Azerbaijan (Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Twitter)
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Sudan Plans Restoring Diplomatic Relations with Iran

Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq Ali met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Baku, Azerbaijan (Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Twitter)
Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq Ali met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian in Baku, Azerbaijan (Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs - Twitter)

After a seven-year hiatus, Sudan is moving towards restoring its diplomatic relations with Iran.

On the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement meetings in Baku, Azerbaijan, Sudan’s Acting Foreign Minister Ali Sadeq Ali met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian to urgently discuss the restoration of severed relations between the two countries.

Sudan abruptly severed its diplomatic ties with Iran in January 2016, during the tenure of former President Omar al-Bashir.

At that time, it was stated that the decision to cut ties with Iran was in response to the brutal attack on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad.

However, Bashir had already laid the groundwork for this decision in 2014 when he ordered the closure of Hussainiyas and the Iranian Cultural Center in Khartoum.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement on Thursday that Sadeq Ali had met with Amir-Abdollahian.

According to the statement, the purpose of the meeting was to discuss the prompt restoration of relations between the two nations and the significance of returning these relations to their previous state.

This restoration would allow both countries to capitalize on cooperative opportunities across diverse fields.

For his part, Sadeq Ali expressed appreciation for the humanitarian aid provided by the Iranian Red Crescent and extended congratulations on the reinstatement of Iran’s relations with Saudi Arabia.

The Foreign Ministry statement mentioned that Sadeq Ali discussed with his Iranian counterpart the developments in Sudan and informed him about the Sudanese army’s ability to “swiftly resolve the rebellion.”

He emphasized that the delay in resolving the situation was due to the presence of rebels within government facilities and civilian homes. Sadeq Ali also conveyed that the Sudanese army is not inclined to adopt a scorched-earth policy.

The Sudanese Foreign Ministry quoted the top Iranian diplomat expressing regret over the situation in Sudan.

Amir-Abdollahian stated that his government considers the ongoing events “an internal matter” and emphasized that the solution should come from the Sudanese themselves, without any external interference.

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Trump Administration Ends Some USAID Contracts Providing Lifesaving Aid across the Middle East

A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Trump Administration Ends Some USAID Contracts Providing Lifesaving Aid across the Middle East

A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)
A USAID flag flutters outside, as the USAID building sits closed to employees after a memo was issued advising agency personnel to work remotely, in Washington, DC, US, February 3, 2025. (Reuters)

The Trump administration has notified the World Food Program and other partners that it has terminated some of the last remaining lifesaving humanitarian programs across the Middle East, a US official and a UN official told The Associated Press on Monday.

The projects were being canceled “for the convenience of the US Government” at the direction of Jeremy Lewin, a top lieutenant at Trump adviser Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency whom the Trump administration appointed to oversee and finish dismantling the US Agency for International Development, according to letters sent to USAID partners and viewed by the AP.

About 60 letters canceling contracts were sent over the past week, including for major projects with the World Food Program, the world’s largest provider of food aid, a USAID official said. An official with the United Nations in the Middle East said the World Food Program received termination letters for US-funded programs in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

Both officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

Some of the last remaining US funding for key programs in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and the southern African nation of Zimbabwe also was affected, including for those providing food, water, medical care and shelter for people displaced by war, the USAID official said.

The UN official said the groups that would be hit hardest include Syrian refugees in Jordan and Lebanon. Also affected are programs supporting vulnerable Lebanese people and providing irrigation systems inside Syria, a country emerging from a brutal civil war and struggling with poverty and hunger.

In Yemen, another war-divided country that is facing one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters, the terminated aid apparently includes food that has already arrived in distribution centers, the UN official said.

Aid officials were just learning of many of the cuts Monday and said they were struggling to understand their scope.

Another of the notices, sent Friday, abruptly pulled US funding for a program with strong support in Congress that had sent young Afghan women overseas for schooling amid Taliban prohibitions on women’s education, said an administrator for that project, which is run by Texas A&M University.

The young women would now face return to Afghanistan, where their lives would be in danger, according to that administrator, who was not authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The Trump administration had pledged to spare those most urgent, lifesaving programs in its cutting of aid and development programs through the State Department and USAID.

The Republican administration already has canceled thousands of USAID contracts as it dismantles USAID, which it accuses of wastefulness and of advancing liberal causes.

The newly terminated contracts were among about 900 surviving programs that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had notified Congress he intended to preserve, the USAID official said.

There was no immediate comment from the State Department.