Maphwanya transmitted the expected response by saying, “The Republic of South Africa and the Islamic Republic of Iran have common goals,” including that they “always stand alongside the oppressed and defenseless people of the world.” Foreign Policy (FP) noted in June that South Africa’s response to the U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear program was rather muted compared to its fiery denunciation of Israel’s airstrikes, in part because the South African government has grown nervous about provoking President Donald Trump. The ANC also has a tendency to treat all of its allies from the apartheid era as friends for life, which can produce the odd strategic conundrum – as when Ukraine chided South Africa for siding with Russia after it invaded Ukraine in 2022, even though South Africa’s debt of gratitude is properly owed to the defunct Soviet Union, to which Ukraine also belonged.
Author: John Hayward, John Hayward
Published at: 2025-08-12 21:07:58
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