Sudanese Diplomat Expelled from Tehran Amid Fluctuating Bilateral Relations
Sudan Events – Agencies
Iran has informed a Sudanese diplomat at the Sudanese Embassy in Tehran that he has been declared persona non grata and must leave the country within 72 hours—a new development in the two countries’ relationship, the motives for which remain unclear.
Sources cited by Asdaa newspaper expect the Sudanese government to take a similar step under the principle of reciprocity by expelling an Iranian diplomat from Tehran’s embassy in Khartoum. According to the same sources, Sudan has in recent months rejected any Iranian pressure regarding its foreign policy direction and its pursuit of sovereign decision-making.
Sudan recently agreed to scale back its relations with Iran at the request of the United States. The decision followed a meeting in Nyon, Switzerland, between General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Mossad Bolos, the U.S. President’s advisor for African and Arab affairs. According to Bolos, Washington’s request included halting cooperation with Iran and distancing Islamist officers from the Sudanese army. Burhan subsequently dismissed a significant number of officers associated with Islamist circles, most notably Major General Nasr al-Din, commander of the Armored Corps, among others.
Sudan–Iran relations have swung between rapprochement and estrangement over the years. In 2014, Khartoum shut down Iranian cultural centers over their increasing activity in promoting Shia Islam in a country where the majority of the population follows Sunni Islam.
In 2016, Sudan severed diplomatic ties with Tehran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia after the storming of the Saudi Embassy in the Iranian capital. Sudan later joined the Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm against the Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen.
Following the outbreak of war in Sudan in April 2023, relations between Khartoum and Tehran were restored, culminating in a meeting between Sovereignty Council Chairman General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.
In 2024, the two countries exchanged ambassadors for the first time in eight years. Sudan appointed Abdulaziz Hassan Saleh as ambassador to Iran, with Khalid al-Sheikh as deputy ambassador. Iran named Hassan Shah Hosseini, the Foreign Ministry’s Director for Asia and North Africa, as its new envoy to Khartoum.
General al-Burhan later received Shah Hosseini’s credentials as Iran’s ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Sudan. He also bid farewell to outgoing Sudanese ambassador Abdulaziz Hassan Saleh, who took up his new post in Tehran.
