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Reports about Iran’s Bid for Naval Base in Sudan Sparks Controversy

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi meets with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq in Tehran last month (Iranian Presidency)
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi meets with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq in Tehran last month (Iranian Presidency)
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Reports about Iran’s Bid for Naval Base in Sudan Sparks Controversy

Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi meets with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq in Tehran last month (Iranian Presidency)
Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi meets with Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq in Tehran last month (Iranian Presidency)

Media reports saying Iran has asked the Sudanese Army to set up a military base on the Red Sea coast, have sparked controversy in Sudanese circles.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal quoted a Sudanese intelligence official as saying that Sudan refused to let Iran set up a permanent naval base on its coast along the Red Sea in exchange for weapons.
However, local Sudanese media quoted a Sudanese army spokesperson as denying the Iranian offer.
The war in Sudan between forces loyal to army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Daglo, began on 15 April 2023.
In January, media reports said Iran has supplied Sudan’s army with combat drones. The army has not denied the claims.
Later, Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali al-Sadiq visited Tehran and held talks with high ranking officials as part of the two countries’ efforts to restore their diplomatic relations.
According to a WSJ report, Ahmed Hassan Mohammed, who advises the Sudanese army chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan said Iran offered the Sudanese army explosive drones and a helicopter carrier in exchange for the base.
However, Al Sudani news website denied the reports. It quoted a Sudanese Army spokesperson as saying that Iran made no such offers to the army.
Also, sources close to the Sudanese army's intelligence service ruled out the presence of such an Iranian offer. The sources said the reports were probably a maneuver from Al-Burhan expressing his dissatisfaction with the regional and international neutral stances concerning developments in Sudan.
But despite the denials, the sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Iran could have made the offer during the visit of the Sudanese foreign minister to Tehran last February.
They added that the current Sudanese leadership is aware that an Iranian maritime base in Sudan will surely lead to hostilities in the region.
The sources said al-Sadiq’s visit to Tehran aimed to send a warning message to regional countries backing the Rapid Forces, cautioning that they could shuffle the cards in light of the current tensions in the Red Sea.
“The Sudanese Army leadership knows that Iran cannot offer them unlimited military support in return of nothing,” the sources said. “Therefore, they are seeking to restore their relationship ...to produce a balance of power in the region, particularly in the absence of any country willing to support them at the military level,” the sources added.

 

 

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Iran: Strait of Hormuz Will Not Reopen Until Conditions Are Met

Iran: Strait of Hormuz Will Not Reopen Until Conditions Are Met
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Iran: Strait of Hormuz Will Not Reopen Until Conditions Are Met

Iran: Strait of Hormuz Will Not Reopen Until Conditions Are Met

The Strait of Hormuz will not reopen until seven Iranian conditions set out in a June interim agreement with the US are met, Nournews reported Iran's parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying on Sunday, a few days after Tehran received Washington's reply to its diplomatic proposal.

“The Americans, who say something different in the media, have recently put forward proposals through a mediator. ⁠But they must understand that ⁠the period of dragging out the process and dictating one-sided demands is over," Qalibaf was quoted as saying.

"The position of the Islamic Republic of Iran is completely clear and firm, and the Strait of Hormuz ⁠will not be opened until our seven conditions, based on the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding, are met."

Meanwhile, army spokesperson Mohammad Akraminia told Fars news on Sunday that Iran will upgrade the range of its missiles following the war with the US as American forces are now ⁠positioned as much ⁠as 1,000 km (621 miles) away from the Iranian ⁠coast.

"During this war, we concluded that we absolutely must increase the ⁠range of ⁠our missiles, and we have now moved in that direction," he said.

World

Iran Tells US There is No Military Solution to Mideast War

(FILES) Vehicles drive past a giant billboard reading 'The Strait of Hormuz remains closed' at the Revolution Square in Tehran on April 28, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
(FILES) Vehicles drive past a giant billboard reading 'The Strait of Hormuz remains closed' at the Revolution Square in Tehran on April 28, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
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Iran Tells US There is No Military Solution to Mideast War

(FILES) Vehicles drive past a giant billboard reading 'The Strait of Hormuz remains closed' at the Revolution Square in Tehran on April 28, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)
(FILES) Vehicles drive past a giant billboard reading 'The Strait of Hormuz remains closed' at the Revolution Square in Tehran on April 28, 2026. (Photo by ATTA KENARE / AFP)

Iran's top diplomat insisted on Sunday that there would be no military solution to the United States' war against Iran, with talks on ending the conflict apparently at an impasse.

A campaign of heavy bombardment failed to bring a decisive close to the war launched by the US and Israel in late February, and Washington in recent weeks has dialed back military operations in favor of economic pressure.

The main point of contention remains Iran's attempt to blockade the Strait of Hormuz where a UK maritime agency reported on Sunday another tanker struck by an unknown projectile.

"If our enemies again choose the path of military confrontation, our response will be stronger than before, and we will defend ourselves with even more force," Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said at a gathering of foreign ambassadors.

"There is no military solution, nor any solution based on new sanctions," he continued, adding "only negotiations based on justice and fairness" could end the conflict.

The two sides agreed a memorandum of understanding in June that spelled out a framework for a permanent resolution, but Iranian attacks on vessels in the Hormuz prompted a return to US military operations.

On Sunday, the British maritime security agency UKMTO said a tanker in the Hormuz "reported being struck by an unknown projectile, causing damage to the engine room", though the crew were reported safe and no environmental impact was recorded.

The agency did not specify the date of the incident, the vessel's origin or destination, or whether it was an oil tanker or LNG carrier.

Iranian and US officials last week held indirect talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, with Tehran saying it presented seven conditions for reopening the strait.

Iran has demanded, among other things, a ceasefire across the Middle East, the unfreezing of its assets abroad, the lifting of sanctions on its oil sector and an end to the US naval blockade.

Trump, however, rejected the proposal, while leaving the door open both to further talks or renewed military operations.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei on Sunday characterized the latest US counterproposal as being "in line with their previous proposals concerning nuclear issues".

"We have clearly indicated that we are focusing on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz," he said, adding that reopening the waterway required "an end to the disruptions to Iranian commercial maritime traffic and the lifting of sanctions".

World

Japan: US Marine Arrested on Suspicion of Murdering Woman

Military Osprey aircraft are seen at the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Base in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, where the suspect involved in the robbery and murder is stationed (Reuters)
Military Osprey aircraft are seen at the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Base in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, where the suspect involved in the robbery and murder is stationed (Reuters)
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Japan: US Marine Arrested on Suspicion of Murdering Woman

Military Osprey aircraft are seen at the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Base in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, where the suspect involved in the robbery and murder is stationed (Reuters)
Military Osprey aircraft are seen at the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Base in Ginowan City, Okinawa Prefecture, where the suspect involved in the robbery and murder is stationed (Reuters)

A US Marine stationed on Japan's southern island of Okinawa was arrested on suspicion of the murder of a Japanese woman, police said on Sunday.

The suspect "killed the 39-year-old woman at a hotel in Naha and stole her wallet on Saturday," a local police spokesman told AFP.

US Ambassador George Glass posted on social media that he had spoken with Japan's foreign ministry and Okinawa's governor to offer "our sincere condolences and pledging full cooperation as the investigation continues".

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi called the crime "exceptionally brutal and vicious" on X.

The government has urged the US "to provide maximum cooperation with the investigation, enforce stricter discipline among US military personnel, and take thorough measures to prevent the recurrence of similar crimes," Takaichi said.

Public broadcaster NHK and other Japanese media outlets, citing investigation sources, reported that CCTV footage from near the scene showed a foreign man entering a room with a woman and later leaving with her belongings.

Police then found the 20-year-old man, who matched the description of the suspect seen in the footage, and asked him to accompany them voluntarily to a local police station where he was arrested, NHK reported.

He reportedly denied the charges.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa.

A series of crimes including rapes, assaults, hit-and-run and drink-driving accidents by US personnel have long sparked protests on Okinawa and have been a frequent thorn in relations between close security allies Japan and the US.

Last year, a Japanese court sentenced a US Marine accused of choking and attempting to rape a woman in her 20s to seven years in prison.

In 2017, a former US Marine and civilian military base worker was sentenced to life in prison for the rape and murder of a local woman in Okinawa.

In the same year, US Forces in Japan banned all personnel from consuming alcohol after a drunken US Marine crashed his vehicle into a mini-truck, killing its 61-year-old local driver.