Dubai: Sudan has ordered Iran to close its cultural centres and given their managers 72 hours to leave the country, an official said on Tuesday, in a shock to generally close relations.
“Sudanese authorities summoned the Iranian charge d’affaires in Khartoum and informed him of the decision to close the three cultural centres and to give the diplomats who ran them 72 hours to leave the country,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
He said the decision was a response to “increased activity by the cultural centres in spreading Shiite Islam,” the majority faith in Iran but a fringe one in overwhelmingly Sunni Sudan.
Some press reports suggested that the Sudanese government’s decision was motivated by warnings made by religious circles as well as the media about the spread of Shiite ideology among Sudanese youngsters after the intensification of activities by the office of the Iranian cultural attaché in Khartoum, reported the Sudan Tribune.
A radical jihadist group under the name of “Hamza Group for Preaching and Jihad” issued a statement last month threatening a local businessman after accusing them of promoting the Shiite sect, the paper reported.
Egyptian media figures have also highlighted “the spread of Shiite ideology in Sudan through the Iranian Embassy in Khartoum,” reported the paper.
Khartoum has maintained generally close relations with Tehran, whose warships have made a number of port calls in Port Sudan this year.
Iran is also reportedly a significant arms supplier to Sudan and the two governments are both backers of Hamas, although Sudan has denied Israeli accusations that it has acted as a conduit for Iranian arms deliveries to the Palestinian Islamist group.
A Sudanese analyst told AFP that the move by Khartoum might be in response to pressure from Riyadh, which put enormous strain on the Sudanese economy earlier this year by denying it access to the Saudi banking system.
— with inputs from AFP
