Iranian warships to dock in Sudan

Two Iranian warships are en route to Port of Sudan, the second such visit in a month, Col. Al-Sawarmi Khalid Sa'ad, a Sudanese military spokesman said. Sa'ad said the Iranian ships will anchor at the port for three days, in what he described as a routine visit in the framework of military cooperation with countries around the world, the Sudan Tribune reported Tuesday. Iran's Press TV confirmed the report saying "Sudan's army has announced two Iranian warships are set to dock at a Sudanese port in the Red Sea in line with the Tehran-Khartoum military cooperation." Last month, an Iranian destroyer and helicopter docked at the Sudanese port days after Khartoum accused Israel of bombing a weapons factory in Khartoum in which two people died. Sudan denied a link between the visit and the alleged Israeli airstrike and also rejected Israel's claims that it serves as a center for smuggling weapons from Iran to the Gaza Strip. The Iranian ships will anchor despite recent comments made by Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Karta who criticized his government's decision to permit Iranian ships to dock in Sudan, the Tribune said. In a recent television interview Karta said "the view of the Sudanese foreign ministry that these ships should not [be allowed] to dock and we spoke with the Defense Minister and submitted our opinion to the president of the Republic and the decision [was made] that these ships are not to dock [in Port Sudan]," the Sudanese newspaper quoted him saying in the interview.