Iran and Sudan have agreed to restore diplomatic relations after seven years to serve the two countries’ interests.
“Following contacts between the two sides’ senior officials in recent months, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Sudan Republic agreed to resume their diplomatic ties in line with the two countries’ interests,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
It added that Tehran and Khartoum agreed to develop cordial relations “based on mutual respect for sovereignty, equality, common interests and peaceful coexistence.”
The two sides also agreed to expand cooperation in various fields to serve the interests of their nations and ensure regional security and stability, the statement noted.
According to the statement, both sides agreed to carry out all the necessary measures to reopen the two countries’ embassies in the near future and make the arrangements for the exchange of official delegations in order to discuss possible ways to boost cooperation.
Tehran and Khartoum decided to restore relations after Iran and Saudi Arabia signed a China-brokered agreement in March to resume ties following a seven-year hiatus.
Riyadh closed its diplomatic missions in Tehran in 2016 after they were ransacked by protesters enraged by the Saudi execution of top Shia cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.
The Sudanese Foreign Ministry also said in a statement that the decision to resume relations “came after a number of high-level communications between the two countries and will serve their mutual interests.”
On the sidelines of a gathering of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM)’s foreign ministers in Baku in January, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian and his Sudanese counterpart Ali al-Sadiq Ali met for the first time in seven years and conferred on the “imminent” resumption of diplomatic relations.
