The United States has imposed sanctions on Sudan’s finance minister and Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) leader Gibril (Jibril) Ibrahim and the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, saying both helped fuel Sudan’s war and maintained connections to Iran — a move that underscores Washington’s tougher approach to Islamist actors in the conflict.
The Treasury Department said the designations under Executive Order 14098 aim to curb Islamist influence in Sudan and restrict Iran’s regional activities. Treasury alleged that Ibrahim cultivated ties with Tehran, including a November 2024 visit, and that the Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade drew on training and weapons from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. OFAC added both the individual and the brigade to the U.S. sanctions list on Sept. 12.
The action came the same day the “Quad” — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States — issued a joint roadmap calling for a three-month humanitarian truce, a permanent ceasefire and a nine-month political process toward civilian rule, while rejecting a role for Muslim Brotherhood-aligned groups in Sudan’s transition.
Ibrahim’s November 2024 meetings in Tehran, reported by Iranian officials and local media, focused on reviving economic and political ties and setting up joint committees, according to those accounts.
JEM rejected the U.S. measures as legally baseless, and Sudan’s Foreign Ministry criticized unilateral sanctions as counterproductive to peace efforts. Neither response directly addressed Treasury’s specific allegations about links to Iran or battlefield roles.
Treasury framed the move within the wider humanitarian crisis, citing mass displacement and deaths since fighting erupted in April 2023 between the SAF and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). UN and aid agencies describe Sudan as the world’s largest internal displacement crisis, with displacement in the tens of millions and civilian casualties continuing to rise.
JEM, rooted in Darfur’s insurgency and historically associated with Sudan’s Islamist current, has fought alongside the SAF in the war, Treasury said. The Al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, which OFAC lists as established in 2020, traces its lineage to the Popular Defense Forces and has been implicated in abuses, according to Treasury’s statement.
