By John Rossomando
Houthis besiege maritime traffic from the east bank of the strategic Red Sea waterway. Iran appears to want hegemony in the Red Sea Basin and is supplying arms to the Sudanese Armed Forces as a possible means to regain influence on the west bank. The weak incompetence of the Biden administration that has appeased Iran in pursuit of a mythical nuclear deal set the Middle East ablaze since the October 7 terrorist attacks in Israel.
With Houthi ballistic and cruise missiles falling on shipping in the Red Sea, Iran’s bid to foster ties with Sudan should be viewed with alarm. Iran is singularly responsible for the spread of death and destruction across the Middle East. If the mullahs fell from power, the Palestinian factions would be forced to sue for peace.
The Biden administration’s vacuum of deterrence against Iran has given the terrorist state’s “Axis of Resistance” a free hand to attack Israeli and American interests across the Middle East. The deaths of three American service personnel last weekend in Jordan were the latest consequences from the Biden administration’s tepid response.
In addition to Yemen’s Houthis, Iranian-backed militias ranging from Hizballah in Lebanon to Kitaib Hizballah in Iraq have put American forces and those of their Kurdish allies under siege.
Iran likely wants to regain the sort of influence it enjoyed under the 30-year reign of Sudan’s Islamist President Omar al-Bashir until his ouster in 2019 and rebuild its sphere of influence. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) operated an arms factory that provided arms that were later smuggled to Palestinian terrorist groups like Hamas in Gaza. It was destroyed by the Israel Air Force (IAF) in 2012.
Sudan cut ties with Iran seven years ago amid a regional divide between Iran and Saudi Arabia. As of November, the fighting had displaced at least 6 or 7 million people. A UN estimate suggests that at least 12,000 people have been killed.
In the near term, Sudan’s ruling junta wants weapons, and Iran is seen as a supplier, according to Asharq al-Awsat. Iranian aircraft arrived in Port Sudan from Tehran on January 23 before returning to Iran.
They were believed to have carried suicide drones that the Sudanese Armed Forces could use against their rivals.
It would seem that Sudan’s leadership wants to garner Iranian experience and support for its rule in Khartoum.
Rapprochement between Khartoum and Tehran mostly has to do with weapons, Asharq Al-Awsat reports.
The Mojaher-6 drones likely will not alter the political calculations in Sudan’s nearly 10-month war; however, it gives the Sudanese Armed Forces a tactical advantage over the RSF, which has surged in recent months. The army has faced setbacks in Darfur and in Gezira, and the RSF has consolidated its control.
The drones can conduct surveillance, air-to-surface missions, electronic warfare, and battlefield targeting. They have been provided by Iran to Russia in Ukraine and to other Iranian proxies across the Middle East where they have acted as force multipliers.
They could also assist the army’s offensive against the RSF near Omdurman.
Strong economic sanctions against the junta are needed to cut it off from the international SWIFT banking system. The U.S. should use a carrot and stick approach with Khartoum. If it sides with Iran it receives severe economic and military sanctions. If it sides with the U.S., the American government will provide it with aid needed to pacify the country and deny Iran access to the west bank of the Red Sea.
The Biden administration must restore the maximum economic sanctions that were in place against Iran when it took office. It succeeded at choking Iran off from funds it needed to cause the resumption of the sort of mass terror campaign that we have seen since October 7th.
The sad thing is all of this was predictable when the Biden administration tried to return to the irresponsible JCPOA Iran nuclear deal.
Furthermore, the U.S. should target Iranian oil terminals, airfields, and vessels used by the IRGC to reduce the Iranian regime’s ability to smuggle oil. Destroying Iranian pipelines and oil terminals would make it more difficult for Iran to supply anything of value to its chief patrons: China and Russia.