Sudan said Friday that it would not install Iranian anti-aircraft missiles in the country after earlier exploring the idea following alleged Israeli airstrikes there in 2012.

A statement from Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs quoted by The Associated Press (AP) said Khartoum would not install the defensive missiles “for fear it could be misinterpreted by some Gulf states.”

In October of 2012, Sudan claimed that Israeli airstrikes caused an explosion and fire at a military factory south of the capital, Khartoum, killing two people.

Sudan claimed that four aircraft hit the Yarmouk complex, setting off a huge blast that rocked the capital before dawn.

Israel refused all comment on Sudan’s accusation about the factory blast, though a top Israeli defense official said Sudan “serves as a route for the transfer, via Egyptian territory, of Iranian weapons to Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists.”

Iranian warships regularly dock in Port Sudan, in what Khartoum describes as “routine” visits. Khartoum has denied Iranian involvement in weapons manufacturing and has accused Israel of “spreading fabricated information”.

In 2009, Sudan accused Israel of carrying out an airstrike on an arms convoy near the Red Sea in eastern Sudan.

In 2011, news outlets in Sudan claimed that Israeli fighter jets, helicopters and possibly a submarine were involved in multiple attacks on targets in the country.

(Arutz Sheva’s North American Desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)