Sudan's Islamist General: How Al-Burhan's Alliance with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood Threatens U.S. and Israeli Security
by Robert Williams • November 5, 2025 at 5:00 am
While diplomats speak of ceasefires and "inclusive transitions," Tehran is laying the groundwork for something far more dangerous: a military beachhead on the Red Sea, operated through its newest ally in Khartoum, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
Al-Burhan is a military officer from the old Islamist regime of Omar al-Bashir, a longtime partner of the Muslim Brotherhood and a beneficiary of Iran's renewed military outreach. He is not a xxxxxx against extremism; he is its new façade.
On September 12, the "Quad" — the United States, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt — issued a clear warning: the Muslim Brotherhood must have no role in Sudan's future.... Al-Burhan's answer was unmistakable: escalation.
Iran sees in Sudan what it once saw in Yemen: a strategic entry point. Having lost freedom of maneuver along its traditional corridor — Syria and Lebanon — Tehran is searching for a new flank against Israel and U.S. forces in the Middle East. The Red Sea, with its shipping lanes and proximity to the Israeli port of Eilat, is that flank. By arming and advising al-Burhan's army, Iran gains exactly what it needs: a launchpad for drones...
The operational logic is clear: build an Iranian-aligned Islamist army on the western shore of the Red Sea to threaten Israel from the south, menace Saudi shipping, and target U.S. naval assets stationed nearby.
Al-Burhan's army is no longer a secular institution; it has become a hybrid of professional officers, Islamist militias, and remnants of the Muslim Brotherhood's armed wings.
If Washington continues to treat al-Burhan as a legitimate interlocutor, it will hand Tehran the Red Sea without firing a shot.
The first step is to demand al-Burhan's resignation and condition all engagement, aid, and recognition on his immediate departure.
Second, Washington must work with the Quad partners to block Iranian weapons routes into Sudan.
Third, the U.S. should restore deterrence.... Sanctions targeting al-Burhan's generals, Iranian intermediaries, and Muslim Brotherhood financiers would send an unmistakable message....
Finally, Washington must reaffirm that America stands with Israel and with the peoples of the region who reject Islamist tyranny. The Muslim Brotherhood has destabilized every nation it has touched — from Egypt to Libya to Tunisia. Allowing its resurrection inside Sudan's military would undo years of counterterrorism progress...
Sudan's tragedy is that its people want freedom while their generals want power and their foreign patrons want leverage. The United States can help break this triangle by removing its keystone: al-Burhan himself. His departure would open the door to a civilian transition, deny Iran its new bridgehead...
America once led the free world in confronting such threats. It can do so again — by recognizing Sudan not as a diplomatic inconvenience but as the next front in a war already declared by Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and their allies. If the U.S. and its partners fail to act, the Red Sea may soon host... the next war against the West.
Sudan has become the newest front in Iran's long war against the West and Israel — and Washington cannot afford to keep pretending otherwise. While diplomats speak of ceasefires and "inclusive transitions," Tehran is laying the groundwork for something far more dangerous: a military beachhead on the Red Sea, operated through its newest ally in Khartoum, General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan.
The Biden Administration and even parts of the Trump foreign policy establishment have described al-Burhan as a "pragmatic" leader, a man who might guide Sudan toward stability. Nothing could be further from the truth. Al-Burhan is a military officer from the old Islamist regime of Omar al-Bashir, a longtime partner of the Muslim Brotherhood and a beneficiary of Iran's renewed military outreach. He is not a xxxxxx against extremism; he is its new façade.
