Sudanese sources have alleged that Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps personnel and members of Yemen’s Houthi movement are expanding cross-border networks in Sudan, including training operations and maritime routes linking military sites around Omdurman and Port Sudan with Eritrea.
The sources told Erem News that IRGC personnel are training Sudanese factions in the manufacture and development of drones, missiles, electronic jamming systems and reconnaissance equipment. They claimed that at least 40 Islamist factions are receiving some form of training inside Sudan, while related activities have expanded to facilities in Somalia and Eritrea.
The allegations come amid growing concern over Iran’s influence in Sudan and along the Red Sea, as the country’s war deepens competition among regional powers.
According to the sources, one of the main training locations is Jebel Surkab, a heavily fortified mountainous area in Omdurman said to contain underground storage facilities and workshops.
They claimed IRGC personnel have trained Sudanese forces, including special units, in drone production at the site. Among the systems reportedly being developed is a drone known as the “Safrouq,” which the sources said resembles Iran’s Ababil-T design.
Training activities were also alleged to be taking place at the Flamingo naval facility north of Port Sudan.
The sources described a route used by Iranian and Houthi personnel stretching from Jebel Surkab through northern Sudan to the Red Sea mountains near Port Sudan, including the Khor Kilab area, where they said an abandoned port is used for smuggling operations.
From there, personnel and equipment can allegedly move by sea across the Red Sea to the Eritrean port of Massawa.
The sources also claimed that training facilities for foreign armed groups operate in Eritrea, while other centres linked to Islamist factions exist elsewhere in the Horn of Africa.
A separate Sudanese political source close to the Tasis administration said technical instruction is conducted in Iran before trainees carry out practical work inside Sudan involving drones, missiles, surveillance systems and electronic warfare equipment.
The source further alleged that IRGC personnel previously travelled to Yemen through Sanaa airport aboard civilian aircraft before moving by sea to Port Sudan and onward to training bases in areas controlled by forces aligned with the Port Sudan authorities.
According to the source, similar training networks are active in Somalia and Eritrea, including at the Sawa military training centre in Eritrea’s Gash-Barka region near the Sudanese border.
The source said Sudanese figures were involved in supervising training programmes in coordination with Iranian and Houthi personnel.
Erem News also cited a recent Foreign Affairs report as saying Iranian-backed networks have expanded into Sudan, with the Houthis allegedly playing a role in transferring weapons and training Islamist factions operating alongside forces aligned with the Port Sudan authorities.
The report said the expansion was aimed in part at transferring Iranian expertise in domestic drone and missile production to Sudan.
There was no immediate independent confirmation of the specific claims regarding the number of factions being trained, the alleged routes used by Iranian and Houthi personnel or the locations of the reported facilities.
Urwa al-Sadiq, assistant chairman of Sudan’s National Umma Party, told Erem News that the Red Sea region was entering an increasingly sensitive period, placing Sudan at the centre of a broader regional security struggle.
He said the continuation of Sudan’s war had created a security vacuum along the western shore of the Red Sea, allowing arms-smuggling networks and radical groups with links to Tehran to expand their activities.
Al-Sadiq argued that the greatest danger was the growing overlap between Sudanese Islamist networks and Iranian regional influence within what he described as a weakened military and security environment.
He called for coordinated international pressure to restrict arms flows, strengthen monitoring of ports and border crossings, disrupt war-related financing networks and prevent further expansion of IRGC influence in Sudan.
Political science professor Yaqoub al-Nourain also said Iran’s activities in Sudan were drawing increasing Western attention because of their potential implications for regional security.
He said Sudan’s conflict was becoming increasingly intertwined with broader Red Sea and Horn of Africa rivalries, warning that the country could become a strategic link between Iranian influence networks operating across both regions.
Al-Nourain called for stronger international pressure on the Port Sudan authorities and Islamist-linked networks accused of maintaining military or logistical relations with Iran.
The allegations underscore growing fears that Sudan’s civil war could increasingly intersect with wider regional competition involving Iran, the Houthis and armed Islamist factions operating around the Red Sea and Horn of Africa.
