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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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World

Iran Studying Deal to Halt War as Stalemate Persists

Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
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Iran Studying Deal to Halt War as Stalemate Persists

Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels are seen at the Strait of Hormuz, as seen from Musandam, Oman, June 1, 2026. (Reuters)

Iran is reviewing a proposed agreement with the US to halt their war but has not communicated with Washington for a few days, Iranian media reported on Tuesday, after US President Donald Trump said negotiations were ongoing.

More than three months after the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran, the conflict has morphed into a stalemate with the pivotal Strait of Hormuz largely shut.

Iran has not yet responded to a proposed final text of a temporary deal, and was taking a "stern" approach given what it sees as a history of US non-compliance and longstanding mistrust, Mehr News Agency cited a source as saying.

The semi-official Fars agency, also citing a source, added that messages on the possible deal, or memorandum of understanding, had stopped a few days ago, with the last one being Tehran's "clear message" over Lebanon, where Iran is seeking a stop to Israel's incursion against its ally Hezbollah.

Trump said on Monday that negotiations were continuing and there would be a deal over the next week to extend a ceasefire agreed in early April and reopen the strait.

Since mid-March, he has ‌repeatedly said he ‌is close to a deal, which would postpone thorny issues including the future of Iran's nuclear program.

A ‌ceasefire ⁠has largely held ⁠since early April, but Iran and the US have exchanged strikes several times over the past week.

Oil prices fell more than 1% on Tuesday. A senior International Energy Agency official warned that oil inventories could hit historically low levels.

ISRAEL KEEPS UP STRIKES IN LEBANON

The war that began on February 28 has killed thousands of people, mainly in Iran and Lebanon.

It has caused global pain by pushing up energy prices since Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, which previously carried about a fifth of global supplies of oil and liquefied natural gas.

It also triggered the latest round of conflict between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.

On Tuesday, Israel kept up strikes on a string of towns in southern Lebanon, Lebanese security ⁠sources said, despite a US-mediated partial ceasefire announced on Monday.

That would entail Israel refraining from strikes on ‌Beirut and Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, while the Iran-aligned group would halt attacks ‌on Israel.

But the announcement failed to reassure many Lebanese, 1.2 million of whom have been displaced, and the din of an Israeli drone over Beirut kept residents on ‌edge on Tuesday.

"Every time we return to our homes, there is a warning for us to be displaced again," said Faten Al-Chehime, who fled to a displacement camp from her home in Beirut's southern suburbs on Monday, only two weeks after returning there.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing criticism domestically over any agreement to hold back from further attacks on Beirut, ahead of an election later this year he is projected to lose.

IRAN PUSHES FOR LIMITED DEAL

In the wider war, Iran is pushing for a limited interim agreement as it tries to ease economic pressure while avoiding major concessions on its nuclear program, according ‌to Iranian sources.

Tehran is seeking an end to hostilities across all fronts including Lebanon, access to billions of dollars in oil revenues, waivers on crude exports, a lifting of a US blockade on its ports, ⁠and continued leverage over the strait.

Trump ⁠is under pressure to reopen the strait and curb US fuel prices while not making concessions to Iran.

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security adviser in his first term and has since become a critic, said the president faced few good options.

"I think he wants to have a deal that opens the Strait of Hormuz, and he can declare victory and get the price of gasoline down," Bolton told Reuters. "But he knows if he makes a bad deal, he'll be justifiably criticized for it, so he's between a rock and a hard place, and he doesn't know what to do."

Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps said on Tuesday that 24 vessels had transited the strait in the past 24 hours, after obtaining permission from the Guard's navy.

Iran threatened on Monday to expand its blockade to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea, if Israel resumed strikes on Beirut.

Highlighting the risk at sea, the world's largest shipping group MSC said on Tuesday that one of its vessels was struck by two projectiles while in Iraq's Umm Qasr port the previous day.

The Revolutionary Guards claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was carried out in retaliation for a US attack on an Iranian vessel in the Gulf of Oman.

The wide-reaching impact of the crisis was laid bare by UN children's agency UNICEF, which said surging transport costs and supply chain disruptions were hindering life-saving aid for Gaza, Lebanon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Nigeria and elsewhere.

World

Trump Names Ally as Intelligence Director

Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte walks outside the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte walks outside the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
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Trump Names Ally as Intelligence Director

Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte walks outside the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP)
Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency Bill Pulte walks outside the White House, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP)

US President Donald Trump appointed a loyalist with no national security experience as head of US intelligence on Tuesday -- and said he would also retain his existing jobs overseeing federal housing and mortgage policies.

Federal Housing Finance Agency chief Bill Pulte, who also leads the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, was named as the acting director of national intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard.

Gabbard, herself a controversial pick for the job, resigned in late May, ending a tenure that saw her appear to be at odds with Trump over his war on Iran.

"William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the Markets," said Trump in a post on his Truth Social platform, adding that Pulte would continue to serve in his housing-related roles.

Pulte, 38, is an outspoken ally of the president who has been known for publicly attacking Trump's political enemies, with some US media describing him as the president's "attack dog."

Pulte has accused Democratic Senator Adam Schiff and New York Attorney General Letitia James of falsifying documents on mortgage applications.

The Wall Street Journal reported that, according to an internal complaint at Fannie Mae, Pulte had improperly accessed the mortgage records of James and other Democratic officials.

A federal grand jury indicted James in October, but the case was dismissed without prejudice a month later by a federal judge over other issues.

Pulte has also championed a mortgage fraud case against US Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, based upon which Trump attempted to fire the monetary policy maker. That case is pending before the Supreme Court.

The heir to a home-building fortune, Pulte has polarized many, even within Trump's circle, with his aggressive and public political actions.

In addition to attacking Trump's enemies, he has also fired internal ethics watchdogs who were investigating his own allies.

Pulte characterized those firings as a way to end diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies at Fannie Mae.

On housing finance, he has championed the introduction of a 50-year mortgage in the United States, a proposal that has enraged many in the MAGA movement.

Pulte has fallen out with his family over the future of their PulteGroup company. Bill Pulte left the company's board in 2020.

US media report that he has fallen out with those in Trump's inner circle, too.

In 2025, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent threatened to punch Pulte at a dinner at a private club, according to the Wall Street Journal and Politico.

World

Netanyahu Says Israel Will Help Make Iran ‘Terror Regime’ Disappear

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
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Netanyahu Says Israel Will Help Make Iran ‘Terror Regime’ Disappear

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference, amid the US-Israel conflict with Iran, in Jerusalem, March 19, 2026. (Reuters)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would help to make Iran's "terror regime" disappear, as talks to reach a peace agreement between the US and Tehran appeared to stutter.

"This terror regime which is destined to disappear from the world, and we will help bring about this outcome, this regime will no longer threaten us with nuclear bombs and thousands of lethal ballistic missiles," Netanyahu said at an event marking the appointment of Major General Roman Gofman as the head of Israel's Mossad spy agency.