Sudan Denies Reports About Alliance With Iran

Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti on Sunday dismissed as "mere claims" reports about the presence of an alliance between his country and Iran.



"This claimed alliance had never existed between Sudan and Iran before," karti said.



"Our relation with Tehran is unexceptional," he added at Khartoum International Airport soon after he returned from Egypt where he attended the 26th Arab summit together with his country's President Omar al-Bashir.



Karti said diplomatic representation between his country and Iran was common and that his government had closed down Iranian cultural centers in Sudan when these centers committed violations.



Some people, Karti said, tried to propagate such claims, which at the end negatively affected Sudan's relation with Saudi Arabia for three year.



He added that the Sudanese government had redressed this by closing down Iranian cultural centers in Sudan in September of 2014.



Relations deteriorated between Sudan and Saudi Arabia when the African state received Iranian military ships at its eastern Red Sea ports four times between 2012 and 2014.



This deterioration peaked in August of 2013 against the background of reports that Saudi Arabia had prevented the plane of the Sudanese President from crossing its airspace on the way to Tehran.



Sudan has recently joined several Arab states participating in a Saudi-led military campaign against the Shiite Houthi group in Yemen.



Karti said Sudan's participation in the campaign brought it back to its normal position together with other Arab and Islamic states.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Hartum