The Muslim Brotherhood Pledges Support to Iran

The Muslim Brotherhood still backs the clerical regime in Tehran. The group’s interim senior official, or acting guardian, Saleh Abdel Haq, sent a letter of support to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on June 18, pledging “full support for the Islamic Republic of Iran in the face of brutal Israeli aggression.” Brushing aside the sectarian divide between the Sunni Brotherhood and the Shiite regime in Tehran, the letter declared that the Brotherhood and Iran are “one nation — religiously, spiritually, and geopolitically” united by the belief that “the fires of Israeli occupation do not distinguish between our ethnicities or sects.”

However, this cross-sectarian solidarity should raise no eyebrows. Iran’s brand of political Islam has drawn heavily from Sunni thinkers affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood like Sayyid Qutb and Abul A’la Maududi.

How the Brotherhood Shaped Iran’s Islamists

In the 1940s, Shiite cleric and Islamist Navvab Safavi built an ideological bridge between the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran’s emerging Islamist movement. A passionate admirer of Sayyid Qutb, Safavi once declared, “Whoever wants to be a true Ja‘fari [i.e., Shiite] must follow the Muslim Brotherhood.” Safavi was the leader of Fada’iyan-e Islam, a Shiite fundamentalist group founded in 1946 that aimed to purify Islam in Iran through targeted assassinations of those it deemed corrupt.

Safavi became the first Shiite figure to propose the concept of an “Islamic government,” drawing heavily on the ideas of Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna. His teachings influenced future Supreme Leader Khamenei, who in 1966 translated Qutb’s The Future in the Realm of Islam into Persian. Khamenei later explained that Iran’s “newly emerged Islamic movement … had a pressing need for codified ideological fundamentals.”

Khamenei viewed Qutb’s book as pivotal in articulating Islam as a comprehensive way of life. He saw it as central to Qutb’s mission to define the true religion, not just as faith but as a framework embedded in every aspect of social and political life.

Following the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood published a book titled The Islamic Alternative, in which it declared, “[Ruhollah] Khomeini’s approach is the Islamic solution to get rid of the treacherous systems.” Maududi, one of the most prominent ideologues associated with the Muslim Brotherhood, praised the Islamic Revolution, saying: “Khomeini’s revolution is an Islamic one. Those responsible for it are an Islamic group — men who were educated within Islamic movements. Therefore, all Muslims, and especially Islamic movements, must support this revolution and cooperate with it in all fields.”

Iran and the Brotherhood’s War on Israel

Tehran’s proxy network — which includes numerous Shiite militias across the region — follows the Islamic Republic’s strategy of projecting power and ideological influence beyond its borders. Yet to build its “ring of fire” around Israel, Tehran also relies on cooperation with Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Sunni groups.

The best known is Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Brotherhood. Another key part of Iran’s so-called “axis of resistance” is Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Gaza-based group founded by former Muslim Brotherhood members Fathi Shaqaqi and Abdul Aziz Awda in the aftermath of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Despite being firmly Sunni, PIJ receives Iranian funding and training and credits the Islamic Revolution as the inspiration for its goal of establishing an Islamic state in place of Israel.

Another example is Lebanon’s Islamic Group, which was a key ally for Hezbollah during its war with Israel in the aftermath of the October 7 atrocities. The group’s armed wing, the Fajr Forces, launched numerous attacks targeting Israeli civilians in northern Israel during the war.

U.S. Exploring Options for Targeting the Brotherhood

The Trump administration is debating whether to designate the entire Brotherhood as a terrorist organization or to target individual branches that either engage in violence or provide direct support to previously designated groups. If Washington seeks to designate individual branches, leading candidates may include Lebanon’s Islamic Group and the Brotherhood’s Jordanian branch, both of which have cooperated with Hezbollah.

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