Since the Hamas-led strike in Israel in October 2023, Iran has been well documented and has attracted more attention. Similar to this, Tehran’s hands supplies to Russia have drawn international attention and have slapped Tehran.
Tehran’s military action in another dangerous turmoil, the civil war in Sudan, has received much media attention.
Since that turmoil started in April 2023, it has killed at least 13, 000 individuals, injured through 33, 000 people and displaced thousands more. In the southwestern region of Darfur, people are after more slaughtered after years of semblable serenity.
Iran’s participation in Sudan’s military authorities was limited to providing humanitarian support right away after fighting broke out between two rival parties.
But that policy did n’t last long. Tehran provided some Mohajer- 6 premium surveillance and fight robots to President Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his Sudanese Armed Forces, or SAF, between December 2023 and January 2024.
![](https://i0.wp.com/asiatimes.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/iran-sudan.jpg?resize=500,333&ssl=1)
In February, the robots helped the SAF take place from Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as” Hemedti”, and the military Rapid Support Forces, or RSF, during an unpleasant in the area of Omdurman.
The issue in Sudan has a strategic significance for Tehran, despite receiving less international attention than the conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. As an analyst on Iran’s foreign policy, I can see how Tehran is increasingly using its presence in American conflict zones to expand its military, industrial, and especially political objectives. It follows a pattern similar to Iran’s role in Ethiopia during the Tigray War of 2020-22.
Projecting strength
Since the U.N. arms sanctions against Tehran ended in October 2020, drone exports to the SAF have continued Iran’s actions both physically and economically.
Iran has since delivered monitoring and strike drones to its quasi-state proxies and colleagues in the Middle East, including Hezbollah, Hamas, and Yemeni Houthis, as well as to progressively distant nations like Ethiopia, Russia, Tajikistan, and Venezuela.
Iran has used this strategy to work power, improve alliances, and sway disputes in the Middle East and other areas. At the same time, it may prove a beneficial source of income for the Iranian business, as well as a display for the government’s systems.
While it is difficult to determine the precise revenue Iran has received from military drone exports, the estimated value of the global market in 2022 was US$ 12.55 billion, a figure expected to reach$ 14.14 billion in 2023 and$ 35.60 billion in 2030.
Arming the Army helps both Iran’s wider political objectives and its rivalry with local competitors, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel.
Rogue says
Iran and Sudan have a history dating back to 1989, when Tehran supported the revolution led by Omar al-Bashir, who afterwards became Sudan’s leader. Iran provided Sudan with development aid and military support in the 1990s and 2000s. It stationed naval vessels in Syrian ships in the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and exported machines it.
Along these strategically important routes and transport lanes, Tehran facilitated the movement of Houthi rebels in Yemen and Palestinian militants in Gaza while importing oil into American nations and bringing arms into local markets.
Sudan continued to offer consular assistance to Tehran throughout the time as a fellow so-called rogue state that was subject to US punishment and sanctions.
It voted against UN General Assembly resolutions that condemned Tehran’s human rights record and recognized Iran’s right to pursue a nuclear programme. From 1979 to 2021, Sudan ranked as Iran’s second- largest trading partner in Africa and accounted for 3 % of its regular monthly deal with the globe.
But between 2013 and 2016, Iran- Sudanese relationships suffered a series of serious losses. Sudan closed Iran’s cultural center in 2014 and fired its political staff because it allegedly proselytized Shiism in a state with a majority of Sunnis. Two years later, in 2016, it and other locations in the Horn of Africa cut official ties with Tehran.
Iran broke away from Sudan and Africa in order to concentrate on radioactive politics with the United States and other world powers, which was the cause of these losses. In exchange for joining the Saudi-led alliance against the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen, Saudi Arabia and the UAE began to provide more military, political, and economic aid to Sudan and other nations in the Horn of Africa.
Sudan’s struggled with confinement and financial hardship as a result of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for al-Bashir, the oil-rich South Sudan’s dissolution, and the ensuing intensified sanctions from the United States.
Iran and Sudan participated in international forums for agricultural participation afterward, but diplomatic relations between the two countries previously completely recovered.
making an impact in the Horn
Iran has the chance to alter its position with Sudan thanks to the civil warfare. Tehran is re-establish relations with Sudan by supporting the SAF, as well as limiting or limiting Saudi and Emirati influence in the nation and the world as a whole.
Tehran aims to regain control of the state and assist al-Burhan and the SAF in winning the war.
Giving aid to the SAF also fits into a fluid that dates back to the war and is again related to Iran’s struggle for control with Saudi Arabia. Hemedti traveled to Saudi Arabia in 2019 and pledged his support for it against Iran and the Houthis while serving alongside al-Burhan in the Transitional Military Council following al-Bashir’s resignation by a revolt.
However, supporting the SAF is not without threats for Iran.
For example, a victory for as- Burhan and the SAF is far from certain. The RSF has taken control of some important state, including Khartoum and Gezira, since October 2023. The SAF launched an offensive in Omdurman in February 2024 and gained it. However, the entire balance may nevertheless bend in the RS F’s pursuit.
And in contrast to the war in Syria and Ukraine and Sudan, Tehran has found itself in the uncomfortable place of supporting a rebel of Russia, which supports the RSF.
Tehran and Abu Dhabi are vying for control in Sudan by supporting the SAF and RSF, both, in contrast to the Ethiopian fight, in which Iran supported the state along with Turkey and the UAE. As Sudan’s largest exporter and second-largest importer, the UAE has a significant financial advantage over Iran in the martial sector.
Supporting issue
Even if al-Burhan were to win, it’s never a given that Iran’s standing in Sudan would drastically improve or expand.
Iran is constrained by being a Iranian power, Sudan is a Sunni- majority region. And even before Sudan severed ties with Iran and descended into another civil battle, it had longer accepted agrarian, professional, development and military support from Iran’s local rivals, Saudi Arabia and Israel.
After Khartoum joined the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen, it restored normal relationships with Tel Aviv through the Abraham Accords in exchange for USS diplomatic and economic opportunities.
Time will tell whether Iran’s military involvement in Sudan represents a turning point in diplomatic relations or just a transfer of arms from another civil discord fueled by international action.
At Florida International University, Eric Lob is an associate professor of politics and international relations.
This content was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original post.