Sudan’s Islamic Movement (Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood), long allied with General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan’s army (SAF), has declared full solidarity with Iran in its showdown with Israel, a move critics warn could entangle Sudan in a fresh regional confrontation while domestic war still rages.
In an overnight statement, the Sudanese Islamic Movement — the local branch of the Muslim Brotherhood — said it was “raising the banner of resistance alongside the Islamic Republic of Iran” and urged “a united Islamic front against Zionist aggression.”
The declaration stands in sharp contrast to the SAF-controlled Foreign Ministry’s posture. Earlier this week the ministry issued a brief call for de-escalation, condemned Israel’s strikes on Iran as a threat to international security and appealed to the U.N. Security Council to intervene — without backing either side.
Burhan’s silence
Neither the SAF junta-led Transitional Sovereignty Council chaired by Burhan nor the general himself have commented publicly, fuelling speculation that the SAF chief tacitly supports the Islamist line to preserve Iranian military aid. “The generals want drones and munitions; they let the clerics speak for the state,” political analyst Azzam Abdullah told a local station.
Sudan’s ties with Iran date to the Islamist coup of 1989, cooled after Khartoum sought rapprochement with Washington and, in 2020, began normalising relations with Israel. But after the SAF-RSF civil war erupted in April 2023, Burhan’s camp quietly renewed defence cooperation with Tehran.
Security sources say Iranian drones now bolster SAF operations, while Revolutionary Guard trainers have been spotted with the Islamist al-Baraa bin Malik Brigades — whose commander, Misbah Talha, publicly endorsed Tehran on social media.
Last month a missile-and-drone barrage hit Port Sudan, the junta regime’s interim seat. Veteran politician Mubarak al-Fadil suggested the attack — which damaged fuel depots and the airport — targeted Iranian advisers stationed there. He argued Burhan’s defence pacts with Iran and Russia “paint a bull’s-eye on Sudan’s coastline and invite retaliation from major powers.”
Sudan’s SAF junta now finds itself juggling two irreconcilable patrons: Iran, which supplies weapons, and Israel, whose recognition Khartoum still courts to lift U.S. sanctions. With inflation spiralling and front lines inching toward the capital, many Sudanese fear their leaders’ latest ideological pivot could make the country a proxy battlefield for a war far beyond its borders.
“If the Islamists keep beating war drums for Tehran,” analyst Abdullah warned, “ordinary Sudanese will pay the price for a conflict they never chose.”
