Sudan Civil War and Iran IRGC Network

The State Department has declared the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) a Global Terrorist organization and says it intends to formally list the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization effective March 16, 2026, escalating U.S. action against Muslim Brotherhood chapters tied to violent conflicts. In a statement, the department alleged the SMB has supplied upwards of 20,000 fighters to Sudan’s civil war, many trained and supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and accused the group and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, of mass executions and summary killings of civilians based on race, ethnicity, or perceived affiliations. The move follows November sanctions on Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, and comes with a warning that Washington will use "all available tools" to choke off IRGC-backed terrorist activity. Outside expert Edmund Fitton-Brown, a former U.K. ambassador to Yemen now at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told Fox the SMB has deep links and a "strong component" inside Sudan’s regular army and historical ties to Osama bin Laden, calling this the first concrete sign that Trump’s November executive order against the Brotherhood network was only the beginning of a broader campaign. The designation will trigger U.S. financial and material-support bans, potentially complicating Sudan’s war dynamics and further tightening pressure on Iran’s regional proxy web, even as analysts warn that labeling national Muslim Brotherhood branches as terrorists can blur lines between political and armed activity and may face legal and diplomatic challenges.