Iranian warships to dock in Sudan for ‘routine visit’

Two Iranian naval vessels will dock at the Sudanese Red Sea city of Port Sudan at the end of November, Sudanese military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Sawarmi Khaled Saad told reporters on Monday.

According to Khartoum, the Iranian ships would be making a routine visit and they would be refueling and restocking provisions.

Two Iranian naval ships docked at Port Sudan last month in what the navy called a “routine visit,” days after Sudan accused Israel of carrying out a airstrike against a munitions plant outside the capital of Khartoum. Israel ignored the accusations, but pointed at Sudan’s involvement in providing Iranian arms to Hamas.

Israel charges that Iran provides Gazan terrorist groups with weapons, including rockets, via Sudan. The weapons are smuggled across Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and into the Gaza Strip through a network of smuggling tunnels under the 15-kilometer border.

Monday’s announcement came days after Hamas officials claimed that Iran had promised to increase its military and financial support of the Islamist terrorist group in the wake of its perceived victory against Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense.

Last week, Palestinian Islamic Jihad official Ziad Nakhaleh said that Fajr missiles fired at Israel during the week-long operation were delivered from Iran. Iran has repeatedly denied it directly supplied Hamas with the Fajr-5.

Hamas representative in Lebanon, Ali Baraka, also met with senior Sudanese diplomatic officials in Beirut on Tuesday, according to Hamas’s official news outlet. Baraka thanked the Sudanese diplomats for their country’s continued support for the Palestinian cause, saying that “Gaza’s victory is a victory for Sudan and the entire Arab and Islamic nation.”

The Sudanese, in turn, praised Hamas’s efforts against Israel and pledged continued support for “the Palestinian people and their just cause.”

Earlier this month, Sudanese Vice President Al-Haj Adam Youssef said his country was not intimidated by “Israeli aggression” and would continue to support Hamas.