⁍ Iran’s foreign ministry described a U.S.-brokered Sudan-Israel deal as ‘phoney’
It accused Khartoum of paying a ransom in return for Washington removing it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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⁍ The deal agreed on Friday marked the third Arab government to set aside hostilities with Israel in the last two months.

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– The US is removing Sudan from a list of state sponsors of terrorism after the African nation agreed to pay $335 million in compensation to victims of al-Qaeda attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, the AP reports. President Trump said Monday that he would take Sudan off the list of state sponsors of terrorism after the country deposited the money into an escrow account. Reuters reports that Iran’s foreign ministry on Saturday described the deal as “phoney” and accused Khartoum of paying a ransom in return for Washington removing it from a list of state sponsors of terrorism. “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. “Obviously, the list is as phoney as the US fight against terrorism. Shameful.’ Sudan’s transitional government has been divided over how fast and how far to go in establishing ties with Israel. The sticking point in the negotiations was Sudan’s insistence that any announcement of Khartoum’s delisting from terrorism designation not be explicitly linked to relations with Israel. Sudan’s 1993 designation as a state sponsor of terrorism dates to its toppled ruler Omar al-Bashir and has made it difficult for the transitional government in Khartoum to access urgently needed debt relief and foreign financing.