On Monday, the Trump administration moved to designate the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood (SMB) as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT) entity and announced plans to impose a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation on March 16.

“The Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood uses unrestrained violence against civilians to undermine efforts to resolve the conflict in Sudan and advance its violent Islamist ideology,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a press release. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive the Iranian regime and Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”

The SMB is composed of the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade (BBMB). The Muslim Brotherhood has maintained a significant presence in Sudan since the 1940s and has played a role in the country’s ongoing civil war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) — backed by Iran, Russia, Egypt and Turkey — and the Rapid Support Forces, which have reportedly received support from the United Arab Emirates.

Experts have previously told Jewish Insider that the SAF is heavily influenced by the SMB, working alongside several Islamist militias and receiving attack drones from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which has been designated as a terrorist organization by both the U.S. and the European Union. The SMB has contributed roughly 20,000 fighters to the conflict, with many receiving “training and other support” from the IRGC, according to the State Department. 

An alleged Muslim Brotherhood leader in the Sudanese Armed Forces was also caught on video last week asserting that the group is ready to defend Iran amid the ongoing conflict between Tehran and the U.S. and Israel. The leader suggested that the group would send battalions to fight alongside Iran, according to Sky News Arabia. 

“As the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, the Iranian regime has financed and directed malign activities globally through its IRGC,” Rubio said in the statement, adding that the SMB has also “conducted mass executions of civilians.”

The designation marks the Trump administration’s latest crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood affiliates and represents a notable policy step into the Sudan conflict. In January, the administration designated three Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as SDGT entities, with the State Department citing their provision of “material support to Hamas.”