Sometime in 2025, Seham Omar recalls keeping her three children under the metal bed for three days, listening to the sound that had become normal—the thud of shells, the crack of rifles, the buzz of drones she could not see.
When the firing paused, it was worse. Their house was still standing, but it was no longer a home. The windows were gone, the kitchen had been looted, and the tap had been dried for two weeks.
Seham says in El Obeid, drone attacks by day and sexual violence by night leave no safe window for women and girls to disrupt their daily routine.
Just like Seham, memories of the ordeal in the hands of the Rapid Support Forces remain stuck in Amina’s mind.
She says the RSF members arrived at her home one evening; two of them entered the family house as others held her husband outside.
“They raped me and after that whipped me,” she says amid sobs.
Women fleeing El Obeid and El Fasher townships describe witnessing killings, rape, and the disappearance of their children—horrors that no one should ever endure.
Many are in severe psychological distress, yet there is almost no access to mental health services or psychosocial support anywhere across the affected areas.
Women-led organizations warn that this absence of safe spaces in more other areas like Tawila, Korma, and Malit is among the most glaring gaps in the humanitarian response.
The civil war in Sudan has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian and displacement crisis.
Over 14 million people have been forced from their homes, more than 21 million face acute hunger, and roughly 70% of health facilities have been destroyed, leaving millions exposed to starvation and disease.
This according to the United Nations (UN) Independent International Fact-Finding Mission for the Sudan.
The Mission documented increased use of heavy weaponry in populated areas and a sharp rise in sexual and gender-based violence. It said humanitarian relief is being weaponized and hospitals and medical facilities are under siege.
The stories of Majeeda Al Nour and Eshtiyag Ali, both 27-year-old Sudanese women, show the human cost of war but also the courage and leadership of women who are turning pain into purpose, with support from UN Women and its partners.
The conflict altered the course of their lives in unimaginable ways. Both women lost the security of the lives they once knew. They were displaced, witnessed immense suffering, and transformed their experience of loss and displacement into actions to support others.
The war, which erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), has killed tens of thousands of civilians so far, displacing over 13 million Sudanese and subjecting many more to sexual violence, looting, and the destruction of homes, health facilities, markets, and other infrastructure.
Before the war, Eshtiyag Ali lived an ordinary life in Khartoum and expected her future to follow a familiar path. But as fighting engulfed the capital in April 2023, daily life was replaced by fear and uncertainty.
For two weeks, she awoke to the sound of gunfire. As violence intensified, her family made the difficult decision to flee in search of safety. The journey separated them at a time when they needed each other most.
While Eshtiyag and her brothers headed to White Nile State, her father traveled separately to visit relatives in Al Jazirah State.
“We couldn’t stay longer; we were scared. I wanted to be a strong heroine, but the conflict turned my world upside down. I lost my father and my normal life and became a displaced person.”
A recent open-source intelligence assessment suggests that Iran has, since late 2023, become a vital source of unmanned military capabilities used by the SAF, citing the Iranian-made Mohajer-6 drones, documented wreckage of the systems in Sudan, and flights between Iran and Port Sudan among the key indicators.
The August 2026 assessment, by a group of journalists and humanitarian organizations based in Sudan, does not establish if Iranian combat forces are deployed in Sudan, but it characterizes Tehran’s role as an indirect military intervention involving weapons, technology, logistical support, and defense cooperation.
Iran’s growing military relationship with the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) is raising broader human rights and regional security concerns as the war in Sudan enters its fourth year, with Iranian-made drones and other military support potentially strengthening the capabilities of a force accused of serious violations against civilians.
But from a human rights perspective, the significance of that support extends beyond the question of whether Iranian personnel are physically present in Sudan.
The assessment says Iranian drones have helped the SAF improve some operational capabilities, mainly surveillance and targeting. The emergence of the technology in early 2024 came at a time when the army was seeking to reinforce its position against the RSF.
But the assessment cautions that Iranian assistance is not the main contributor to changes in the battlefield, as SAF mobilization, reorganization, air power, and artillery, among other factors, have also influenced military developments.
The human rights question
The main concern is not simply whether Iran has supplied weapons to Sudan, but whether military assistance is contributing to violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.
While the use of drones can provide armed forces with greater ability to monitor movements and conduct operations from a distance, the same technology can increase the ability to conduct attacks, particularly in an urban setting where civilians and combatants are in proximity.
For civilians in Sudan, the consequences of any expansion in military capabilities can therefore be profound.
Before the conflict reached her village in eastern Al Jazira State, Majeeda Al Nour had completed her university studies and was preparing to pursue a master’s degree in art.
Her dreams were interrupted when violence forced her family to flee their home in December 2025. Like thousands of Sudanese women, she became internally displaced and spent five months in a camp in River Nile State.
The journey to safety was harrowing.
“The fear and painful memories are unforgettable,” Majeeda says. “I left my home with my family and walked for two nights in search of a safe place to hide. During that journey, I witnessed horrors, including the death of my brother, and endured humiliation. I saw and heard the cries of sick women, girls, and older persons.”
Arriving at the displacement camp brought physical safety, but not relief from the trauma. Surrounded by hundreds of displaced women and girls, Majeeda encountered countless stories of loss, violence, and hardship. Instead of withdrawing into her own grief, she chose to support others.
“As a woman, I experienced the same fear and stress. Therefore, I saw it as my role to stand with and support women and girls.”
A conflict with regional consequences
Sudan sits along the western coast of the Red Sea, placing the conflict at the intersection of African, Middle Eastern, and global maritime security interests.
Iran’s renewed engagement, therefore, potentially gives Tehran greater strategic reach into the Horn of Africa and closer access to one of the world’s most important maritime corridors.
The intelligence assessment says Iran’s interest in Sudan appears to extend beyond arms sales, with strengthening relations with Khartoum serving broader political and strategic objectives.
Separate reports have suggested that Tehran sought a permanent naval presence along the Sudanese coast, with the assessment finding insufficient evidence to conclude that Iran had obtained a permanent naval base or facility in Sudan.
A confirmed Iranian military base on the Red Sea would represent a substantially different regional security development from the provision of drones and other military equipment. At present, open-source evidence does not establish such a facility.
Risk of wider militarization
The renewed relationship comes at a time when the Red Sea and Horn of Africa are experiencing increased geopolitical competition.
Greater military involvement by external powers in Sudan is feared could deepen an already complex conflict environment, with regional states and international actors pursuing competing political, security, and economic interests.
For civilians, such competition can carry a cost if Sudan becomes increasingly militarized through the involvement of external suppliers.
The danger is not limited to the weapons themselves. Continued external military support could reduce incentives for the parties to seek negotiated solutions if each side believes it can improve its battlefield position through foreign assistance.
The result could be an extended conflict, further displacement, and additional pressure on humanitarian access.
Responsibility based on evidence not assumptions
The assessment also highlights a 2026 US criminal case involving an Iranian national accused of facilitating arms transactions on behalf of the Iranian government.
According to the US criminal complaint, the alleged activities included facilitating a contract worth more than $70 million in 2025 for the supply of Mohajer-6 drones from Iran’s Ministry of Defense to the Sudanese military establishment, alongside other military equipment and ammunition.
The allegations remain subject to the legal process and do not amount to a final judicial finding.
Nonetheless, if confirmed, such transactions would indicate that Iranian military support to Sudan was not limited to isolated deliveries during the early stages of the war but may have developed into a structured defense relationship.
That possibility increases the importance of examining whether appropriate safeguards were applied to prevent transferred weapons and military technology from being used in violations of international humanitarian law.
A wider Horn of Africa concern
The assessment warns that Iran’s expanding relationship with Sudan could ultimately have implications beyond the immediate war.
If wartime cooperation develops into long-term arrangements involving training, maintenance, defense manufacturing, intelligence, or maritime security, Tehran could establish a more durable strategic foothold in the Horn of Africa.
For human rights defenders and civilian protection actors, however, the central concern is whether the growing availability of foreign military technology contributes to greater protection of civilians or enables further escalation of a war already marked by widespread suffering.
For civilians, the ultimate measure of that relationship will not be the number of drones supplied or defense agreements signed but whether the expansion of military capabilities is accompanied by stronger respect for international humanitarian law, civilian protection, and accountability for violations.