Iran courts Africa to ease isolation, but trails Russia, China, Turkey
Iran's outreach to Africa after the recent war with Israel is as much about optics as it is about outcomes. In hosting South Africa's top general, Tehran framed limited agreements and symbolic gestures as strategic wins and steps toward new alliances amid diplomatic isolation.
TEHRAN — When the chief of the South African National Defense Force, Gen. Rudzani Maphwanya, visited Tehran this week, Iranian media heralded the meetings as proof that the Islamic Republic was cultivating new allies in its struggle against Israel and the United States.
The South African commander held talks with top Iranian brass — including Chief of Staff of the Islamic Republic Armed Forces Maj. Gen. Abdolrahim Mousavi and Defense Minister Brig. Gen. Aziz Nasirzadeh — and offered sweeping expressions of solidarity.
Maphwanya accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza, likened its conduct to a "new apartheid" and praised Iran's military for supporting oppressed nations abroad.
While the meetings were heavy with symbolism rather than tangible agreements, they offered a glimpse of a new direction Tehran's foreign policy is taking: to further deepen ties with African states at a time of heightened confrontation with Israel and mounting isolation from the West.
