Red Sea Tensions Reshape Alliances, US to Lift Eritrea Sanctions Maritime Activity Reports, Inc. May 5, 2026 © sharafmaksumov - stock.adobe.com  The United States is set to remove sanctions against Eritrea, according to an internal U.S. government document seen by Reuters, a decision analysts linked to the African state's strategic location on the Red Sea  shipping  route. The U.S. move is aimed at improving ties with Eritrea, which has a long Red Sea coastline opposite Saudi Arabia, while also sending a message to neighbouring Ethiopia not to go to war with its longtime Horn of Africa foe, analysts said. The war in Iran and closure of the Strait of Hormuz, close to Saudi Arabia's eastern coast, have brought into focus the importance of controlling the Red Sea, a key conduit for trade between the Mediterranean and Asia. However, the Horn of Africa region is destabilised by war in Sudan, tension in Somalia and fears of conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea. U.S.-based advocacy group Freedom House ranks isolationist Eritrea as one of the most repressive countries in the world, on a par with North Korea, describing it as a militarised authoritarian state and noting it has not held a national election since independence from Ethiopia in 1993. SANCTIONS IMPOSED BY BIDEN IN 2021 The U.S. administration under President Joe Biden imposed sanctions in 2021 against Eritrea's ruling party and military as well as senior Eritrean officials for their role in a war in neighbouring Ethiopia, where Eritrean forces backed Ethiopian troops fighting regional authorities in the northern Tigray region. The internal government document, a note sent by the U.S. State Department to several countries, said the U.S. would rescind "on or around May 4" an executive order signed by Biden imposing the sanctions. Ties had been on ice for decades even before the sanctions were imposed. It was not clear when the lifting of the sanctions would be announced. Neither the U.S. State Depar