Sudan strengthens foreign naval ties

Sudan's naval forces have confirmed that they will receive a Pakistani warship, along with two Iranian navy warships as part of their military maritime cooperation duties. Colonel Sawarmi Khaled Saad said that the Pakistani warship will arrive on Thursday and remain in Port Sudan, for two days. Two Iranian navy warships will also arrive on November 30. Strategic expert Younis Mohammed has told Arabstoday that the Sudanese-Iranian relationship is a relation between independent states that takes the regional situation into consideration, whereas Iran's relations with some of the neighbouring Arab countries are not as strong. He pointed out that the visit of Iranian warships to Sudan following Israel’s strike on Yarmouk factory allowed Israel to justify their strike. "I think the balance in the Iranian-Sudanese relation, and the balance in the Sudanese- Arab relations should take into account the Sudanese interests," he said. Khartoum has confirmed that relations with Iran will not affect its relations with other Arab countries, who have considerably cooled relations with Iran.