JOHANNESBURG: Citing Iran, the Trump administration is taking further action against the Muslim Brotherhood—this time amid one of the world’s most severe conflicts: Sudan’s civil war.
On Monday, the State Department labeled the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) a “Designated Global Terrorist” and intends to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, set to take effect on March 16, 2026. The statement also included a warning to Iran regarding its interference in the conflict.
“The SMB has provided more than 20,000 fighters to the war in Sudan, with many receiving training and other support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the statement noted.
It added, “As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime has funded and directed malicious activities worldwide through its IRGC. The United States will utilize all available tools to deny the Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood branches the resources needed to engage in or support terrorism.”
In November, the State Department sanctioned the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, designating it a terrorist organization in those countries.
The State Department noted that the organization “comprises the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing—the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB)—and employs unrestrained violence against civilians to hinder efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and promote its violent Islamist ideology.”
The statement further indicated that the group’s “fighters have carried out mass executions of civilians in captured areas and repeatedly executed civilians summarily based on race, ethnicity, or perceived ties to opposition groups.”
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), told Digital that the Muslim Brotherhood has deep links within the Sudanese government’s Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and is actively contributing to the war against the Rapid Support Forces.
Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen, added that the Brotherhood has a “strong presence” in the Sudanese regular army.
Highlighting that the Brotherhood in Sudan has historical connections to Osama Bin Laden—who, alongside al Qaeda, was responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks—Fitton-Brown stated that the State Department’s move is significant. “It is the first clear sign that the November executive order was just the start of a process.”
Regarding the sanctioning of the Brotherhood in several regional countries, he said, “I anticipate many more such designations, possibly beginning with al-Islah in Yemen.” He noted the move “puts Sudan under political pressure as it effectively links its government to a terrorist entity.”
The impact of the nearly three-year-long civil war on Sudan’s population is devastating. Last month, the Council on Foreign Relations’ global conflict tracker reported that “death toll estimates vary widely, with the former U.S. envoy for Sudan suggesting up to 400,000 have been killed since the conflict began on April 15, 2023. Over 11 million people have been displaced, creating the world’s worst displacement crisis.”
On Monday, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, posted on X, “This is a critical step to limit the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence in the region, particularly as hardline Islamists seek to reassert themselves. We must now also seriously consider extending the same FTO designation to the genocidal Rapid Support Forces and their terror campaign in Sudan.”
Fitton-Brown said the State Department’s designation of the Brotherhood in Sudan “is positive because it objectively targets a group that has inflicted decades of suffering on Sudan. It does not signal support for the RSF. It could empower democratic forces within Sudan, though it will not be enough to alter Sudan’s governance or end the civil war without more proactive external engagement in the country.”
Nicholas Coghlan, a former Canadian diplomat in Khartoum, was less optimistic, telling Toronto’s Globe and Mail that hardline factions within leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s government alliance “will now push him to disregard the U.S. and other potential mediators and escalate actions,” adding “they have nothing left to lose by holding back.”