South Africa has urged restraint, diplomacy, and respect for international law in response to the ongoing Middle East conflict, following joint United States and Israeli strikes on Iran late last month.
The South African government has opposed the imposition of war on Iran, describing it as a violation of international law with no basis. While it does not oppose Iran’s right to defend itself, it has condemned Iran’s attacks on neighboring states as equally unlawful under international law.
Pretoria finds itself walking a diplomatic tightrope with the White House as President Donald Trump seeks to rally international support for the conflict. South Africa’s relations with the United States are already strained due racially driven domestic policies, accusations by the Trump administration of the deliberate killing of white farmers, and South Africa’s genocide case against Israel regarding hostilities in Palestine.
A senior South African official warned that the United States could make life difficult for South Africa through unilateral sanctions, reduced trade, increased tariffs, or by further isolating the country from forums such as the G20, as seen in recent developments.
Despite the pressures, South Africa has made clear it will not abandon its long-standing relationship with Iran. Department of International Relations and Cooperation Director-General Zane Dangor stated there is no reason to cut ties with Iran. He emphasized that South Africa is not uncritical of Iran but maintains relationships with several nations in the developing world, including Cuba and Venezuela, and refuses to be drawn into sphere-of-influence politics pushed by great powers, including the United States.
South Africans have expressed broad agreement that the war, which has already claimed thousands of lives, should have been a last resort. Public sentiment highlights the view that the situation is unnecessary and that rational dialogue, rather than violence, offers a better path to resolution. One citizen remarked, “I just feel like the USA as a whole is doing very unnecessary and very irrational and dramatic things when I feel like all of these things could be spoken about rationally. Obviously, killing is not right… But just I don’t believe that you need to resolve something through violence.”
African countries, already facing rising oil prices, are hoping for a swift resolution to the conflict. Prolonged disruption in the Strait of Hormuz is slowing the movement of goods in and out of the Middle East and threatens to further strain African economies already grappling with high inflation and debt burdens.
The situation underscores the challenges for South Africa and broader Africa in balancing longstanding international partnerships against economic vulnerabilities and geopolitical pressures in an escalating global conflict.