Washington Intensifies Pressure on Muslim Brotherhood Networks

It has become clear that the White House intends to sustain pressure on violent islamist networks operating across the Middle East and beyond.

On March 9, the United States Department of State announced the designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), making it the fourth regional brotherhood chapter to be targeted. The department further declared its intent to designate the group as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).

In January, U.S. State and Treasury departments designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, also known as the Islamic Group, as both an FTO and a SDGT, while the Egyptian and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood branches were designated as SDGTs.

These designations decisions follow a November 24, 2025, executive order directing the State Department and the Treasury Department to consider “certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood” for designation.

Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood Operates a Political and an Armed Wing

The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) consists primarily of the Sudanese Islamic Movement (SIM) and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB).

SIM arrived in Khartoum in the 1940s as an offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood before formally organizing in 1954. Under former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, SIM captured key state institutions and embedded itself throughout the officer corps.

 In April 2022, several Islamist factions formed the Broad Islamic Current, with SIM reigning as the dominant ideological and organizational force.

The movement’s paramilitary arm, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, traces its lineage to earlier Islamist security structures, including a paramilitary group called the Popular Defense Forces. The brigade emerged as a distinct entity in January 2020, following a 2019 coup that brought down al-Bashir. The United States sanctioned the brigade in September 2025 in an effort to “limit Islamist influence in Sudan and curtail Iran’s regional activities.”

SMB Has Infiltrated the Sudanese Armed Forces

The Sudanese Armed Forces have a long and complicated history with Islamist movements.

Under the 30-year rule of al-Bashir, the regime deliberately integrated Islamist networks into the security apparatus, empowering bodies such as the Popular Defense Forces to defend the government and suppress opposition. While technically separate from the SAF, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade has operated alongside government forces and maintains ties to officers linked to the Sudanese Islamic Movement.

When civil war erupted in April 2023 between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the military turned to Islamist-aligned fighters to bolster its ranks. In fact, militants connected to al-Bashir’s political party and other Islamist networks helped break RSF sieges around Khartoum in January 2025.

Washington Needs To Pressure the SAF To Purge Its Ranks of the SMB.

The designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood marks another step in Washington’s broader effort to confront the movement’s global network.

To properly enforce these sanctions, Washington must address the movement’s influence within Sudan’s military. The recent arrest of a Sudanese Armed Forces commander connected to the Muslim Brotherhood is a step in the right direction, but it underscores how deeply these networks remain embedded. The United States should use these designations to press the SAF to continue removing officers and units with documented ties to Islamist movements.

Properly enforced, these designations will help dismantle violent Islamist networks in Sudan and beyond.

Mariam Wahba is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD). For more analysis from Mariam and FDD, please subscribe HERE. Follow Mariam on X @themariamwahba. Follow FDD on X @FDD. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focused on national security and foreign policy.