The Trump administration has listed Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood, also known as al-Kazan, as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization; it will be listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization effective March 16, 2026. On March 9, 2026, President Donald Trump’s Senior Advisor for Arab and African Affairs Massad Boulos announced the sanctions. The move comes nearly four months after Trump pledged to support a Sudan peace effort during meetings with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. The listing also happens as the United States has gradually pressured rival factions to agree to a humanitarian ceasefire more than three years into the armed conflict.
The move comes nearly four months after Trump pledged to support a Sudan peace effort during meetings with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
In early January 2025, just as President Joe Biden’s term ended, the United States announced sanctions against General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chairman of the Sovereign Transitional Council and commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces. The sanctions focused on “persons destabilizing Sudan and undermining the goal of a democratic transition.” The Trump administration subsequently announced sanctions against the government of Sudan, without mentioning the Sovereign Transitional Council or its base in Port Sudan, despite accusations that Sudanese Forces used chemical weapons against its rival. Subsequently, the United States strengthened its role as a member of the Quad, along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, and increased its pressure on parties via a September 2025 statement calling for a ceasefire. The statement warned that “Sudan’s future cannot be dictated by violent extremist groups part of or evidently linked to the Muslim Brotherhood.”
Not only did Burhan harden his positions vis-à-vis his rival General Mohammad Hamdan Daglo Mousa, also known as Hemedti, commander of Rapid Support Forces, but his “hard no” to the Quad overture echoed the position of Islamist hardliners like Ali Karti, head of the Broad Islamist Current Alliance, who rejected the Quad’s statement as “blatant interference in Sudan’s internal affairs.” Karti is just one of Burhan’s allies within the Sudanese Islamist Movement, Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood-affiliate.
The Quad warning hinted at obstructionists figures like Ahmed Haroun, the National Congress Party leader and former governor of North Kordofan; Gebreil Ibrahim Mohamed Fediel, the current minister of finance, whom the United States also sanctioned; and Islamist militia leaders like al-Misbah Abu Zaid Talha, leader of U.S.-sanctioned Al-Bara’ ibn Malik Brigade; Anas Omar; Hudhayfah Istanbul; Abu Aqla Keikel, leader of Sudan Shield Forces; Nagi Mustafa Badawi, founder of the “Current to Support Sharia”; and Abdel Hai Youssef. Washington moved beyond the Quad statement to sanction Al-Bara’ ibn Malik Brigade, Burhan’s largest allied militia, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps directly supports.
The U.S. listing of Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood and the Sudanese Islamic Movement comes nearly two months after the State and Treasury Departments sanctioned Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon. The move illustrates Trump’s pledge to pursue the Muslim Brotherhood wherever possible and against the reservations of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Qatar. This U.S. step also illustrates the administration’s frustration with a lack of progress since Trump’s November 2025 meeting with Mohammed Bin Salman. Saudi diplomats initially engaged Sudan’s Burhan to pressure him to accept the Quad’s terms, but failed just as a Saudi Arabia precipitated a new conflict in Hadhramawt, Yemen.
The U.S. listing links Sudanese Islamist factions to Iran, less than two weeks into the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran.
Sudanese observers note that Burhan’s rejection of the Quad’s approach extends from his dependence on Islamist factions within the Sovereign Council and the military. Militias like al-Bara’ and the Sudanese Shield Forces account for well over 20,000 troops fighting along Burhan’s Sudanese Armed Forces. Burhan sees this as “a war for survival,” while he refers to Boulos as biased and the “worst mediator yet.” Burhan complains Boulos “threatens us and speaks like he wants to impose things on us. We fear he could be an obstacle to the peace all of us Sudanese want.” He may not be entirely wrong. A Western diplomat reportedly warned that the United States could not “rule out imposing [a ceasefire] by force as violations and atrocities continue in a wide part of the country.”
Initial Sudanese response to sanctions on Sudan’s Muslim Brotherhood included commentary claiming there was no coherent Muslim Brotherhood group in Sudan, but such shallow commentary misses the point. The U.S. listing links Sudanese Islamist factions to Iran, less than two weeks into the outbreak of war between the United States and Iran. Burhan and his Islamist allies have vowed to oppose the war against Iran. While the Houthis have gone quiet since the outbreak of war, Burhan appears intent to goad Trump into more direct action. He should see the designation of the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as his last warning.
