Iranian arms supplies to Islamist-aligned factions within Sudan’s military have been continuing throughout the country’s civil war, a former Sudanese minister has said.
The relationship between Sudan’s Islamist movement and Iran dates back more than four decades, said Khalid Yousif, a former cabinet minister of Sudan’s short-lived civilian government. He added that Tehran had provided economic support and technology transfer to what he described as Sudan’s military-industrial complex established under Islamist rule.
“This military regime now led by [Gen Abdel Fattah] Al Burhan re-established diplomatic ties with Iran after the war [broke out] in 2023," Mr Yousif told The National in an interview in Abu Dhabi. “They sent a Sudanese ambassador to Tehran. They received a new Iranian ambassador, and the supply of weapons since that time is continuing, fuelling the war in Sudan.”
Mr Yousif said those ties run far deeper than diplomatic exchanges and are rooted in decades of ideological alignment and military co-operation. Sudan’s Islamist movement drew ideological inspiration from Iran’s Islamic revolution and later shaped parts of the country’s security architecture after the 1989 coup, he added.
Mr Yousif said Sudanese Islamists had replicated elements of Iran’s security model, including structures resembling the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Basij, a volunteer paramilitary run by the IRGC. Co-operation between the two sides has featured military training, technology transfer and support to Sudan’s defence industry, he said.
“It is a very old relationship … but it is deeply rooted, is continuing and is part of a destabilising project that most people in this region suffer from,” said Mr Yousif, who is also a member of Somoud, Sudan’s largest civilian coalition.
Arms links
Last week, US authorities arrested an Iranian woman accused of trafficking arms to Sudan on behalf of Iran, prosecutors said.
Shamim Mafi, 44, who has a US green card, was arrested at Los Angeles airport, accused of “brokering the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, and millions of rounds of ammunition manufactured by Iran and sold to Sudan”, the US Department of Justice said. The alleged sales were to Sudan's defence ministry, including a drone contract worth more than $70 million.
“This proves the fact that this relation is continuing at the same time as the Iranian regime is attacking the Gulf countries and the Arab countries. They are blocking the Strait of Hormuz, and they are disrupting the whole international and regional order,” said Mr Yousif. “At this very time, this regime is keeping the relationship with the Muslim Brotherhood in Sudan. And this should be an awakening call for the world.”
He added that the Sudanese crisis could have implications “beyond the borders of Sudan”.
Sudan and Iran have had a fluctuating relationship shaped largely by regional alignments. Under former Sudanese president Omar Al Bashir, the two countries maintained close ties, particularly in military co-operation, through the 2000s and early 2010s.
However, Khartoum severed diplomatic relations in January 2016, aligning with Saudi Arabia after Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, amid wider Gulf-Iran tension.
After a seven-year rupture, the two sides agreed to restore ties in October 2023 following a period of renewed contacts and shifting regional dynamics, including the Saudi-Iran rapprochement earlier that year.
Sudan's civil war erupted in April 2023 when tension between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), led by Gen Al Burhan, and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), commanded by Gen Mohamed Dagalo, broke into open war.
Mr Yousif served in the 2021 transitional government headed by former prime minister Abdalla Hamdok after the removal of long-time ruler Omar Al Bashir in 2019. The civilian transition, shared with the military and RSF, collapsed after a 2021 coup led by Gen Al Burhan and Gen Dagalo, paving the way for the current war.
Islamist rule
Sudan’s military leadership has been facing mounting scrutiny after announcing plans to integrate Islamist militias into the SAF. The movement ousted in Sudan’s 2019 uprising appears to be backing prolonged military rule as it seeks a political comeback, having deployed fighters in the civil war.
Last month, the US Department of State announced it had designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation due to its role in widespread violence against civilians during the war in Sudan.
Shortly after the decision, Gen Al Burhan named his second-in-command, Gen Yasser Al Atta, as his chief of staff. Gen Al Atta is known as a supporter of Islamist-aligned fighters who have joined the army in its war against the RSF.
The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood “use their presence within the military to spoil every attempt to achieve peace in Sudan”, said Mr Yousif.
“This war is the only way for them to recapture the state in Sudan,” he added. “Without targeting those who are benefiting from the continuation of the war, without weakening elements like the Islamists in Sudan, the war is not going to stop.”
'No legitimate government'
Mr Yousif said there is currently no legitimate government in Sudan. “Since the coup in 2021, there is a vacuum of legitimacy in our country,” he said.
He added that humanitarian assistance “should not be taken hostage by any side” and that no party should impose conditions on its delivery.
This month, aid donors pledged more than $1.5 billion in support for Sudan at a conference in Berlin marking three years since the war began. However, questions remain over how aid will be distributed amid continuing fighting and restricted humanitarian access.
“There is no single safe corner in the country,” said Mr Yousif. “And of course no one can pretend that it could be normal to solve the problems of hunger and disease while the fighting continues. So it is very important to have humanitarian access in Sudan without condition and immediately.”
International efforts to stop the fighting have so far failed. The Quad – which includes the US, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt – is the latest in a series of initiatives aimed at ending the war and is widely seen as the most promising diplomatic track. But obstacles remain.
About 21 million Sudanese are now facing acute food insecurity, including 6.3 million in the most dire state of food emergency, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation. The UN says widespread human rights crimes continue, including sexual violence, forced recruitment, arbitrary arrests and massacres. The two sides have been accused by the world body of war crimes.
“The RSF committed horrible atrocities in Sudan … and it didn’t just start with the war in 2023,” said Mr Yousif. “Since the establishment of the RSF, it was part of the machine of atrocities in Sudan.
“These atrocities need to be well documented and those responsible need to be held accountable. No sustainable peace is going to be achieved in Sudan without accountability.”
