DUBAI (UAE) – On Saturday, the Iranian foreign ministry said the US-brokered Sudan-Israel agreement to normalise relations was a phoney affair and Tehran accused Khartoum of paying a ransom in return for Washington removing it from the list of state sponsors of terrorism.
The deal agreed on Friday marked the third Arab government after the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain to set aside hostilities with Israel in the last two months.
“Pay enough ransom, close your eyes to the crimes against Palestinians, then you’ll be taken off the so-called ‘terrorism’ blacklist,” the ministry tweeted in English. “Obviously, the list is as phoney as the US fight against terrorism. Shameful.”
President Donald Trump announced on Monday he would take Sudan off the list once it had deposited $335 million it had pledged to pay in compensation.
Khartoum has since placed the funds in a special escrow account for victims of al Qaeda attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
Trump also said the Palestinians “are wanting to do something” but offered no proof. Palestinian leaders have condemned recent Arab overtures to Israel as a betrayal of their nationalist cause for statehood in Israeli-occupied territories. They have refused to engage with the Trump administration, seeing it as biased in favour of Israel.