US lifts sanctions on Eritrea with Red Sea in focus

Submitted by MEE staff on Fri, 09/18/2026 - 17:29 Proximity to Yemen puts Asmara at centre of growing strategic competition over Red Sea, amid Houthi military offensive

Pedestrians cross a busy intersection in Asmara, Eritrea, on 4 October 2025 (Jemal Countess/AFP) Off

The US has lifted sanctions on the Eritrean military and key entities on Friday, as the African country comes under renewed focus because of its strategic location on the Red Sea across from Yemen.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that it was lifting sanctions imposed on Eritrea’s decades-long ruling party, the People's Front for Democracy and Justice; the Eritrean military; and the Red Sea Trading Corporation, the company that controls much of Eritrea’s trade with the outside world.

The US also lifted sanctions on Hagos Ghebrehiwet, a key economic advisor to Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki.

The sanctions go back to 2021, when the US administration under President Joe Biden imposed penalties on Eritrea for its role in fighting alongside Ethiopia against the Ethiopian regional government of Tigray.

The African Union said that the conflict may have killed up to 600,000 people. It sparked allegations of atrocities and widespread massacres.

Afwerki has ruled Eritrea since it gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993. Ethiopia and Eritrea patched up their fraught ties temporarily to fight together in the former's 2020-2022 civil war, but their tactical alliance has since broken down, and they are at daggers drawn over various regional hotspots.

Ethiopia has moved closer to the UAE and Israel.

Ethiopia is helping the UAE support the Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s civil war, Middle East Eye and other outlets have reported. Addis Ababa has also deployed Emirati drones and other weapons systems.

Eritrea supports the Sudanese Armed Forces, along with Egypt, Turkey, and Saudi Arabia.

Eritrea was once close with the UAE and hosted the Gulf state at a military base in Assab, which is a short distance across the Red Sea from Yemen, but those ties have severely frayed.

Exclusive: UAE pursuing 'port imperialism' across Africa, Eritrean foreign minister says Read More »

In an exclusive interview with MEE, Eritrean Foreign Minister Osman Saleh accused the UAE of pursuing “port imperialism” across Africa and seeking a Red Sea naval base for joint use with Israel.

Eritrea sits in a strategic position, with more than 1,000km of Red Sea coastline. The territorial waters of Djibouti, Eritrea and Yemen comprise the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. At its narrowest point, the distance between Eritrea and Yemen across the Red Sea is approximately 20 nautical miles.

Houthi forces have taken control of the entirety of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline in a sweeping military offensive. They are now battling to gain control of hinterland cities Taiz and Marib, which could challenge the limited authority of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

Saleh also told MEE that Asmara saw no military solution to the war raging across the Red Sea.

“There is no military option in Yemen, which must be given a chance to be peaceful,” he said.

Saleh added that littoral states must decide how to manage the freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, but this was complicated by the fact that Yemen is not united under a cohesive government.

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