The war between the United States and Israel against Iran has exposed internal divisions within the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). While the parent movement in Egypt was quick to align itself with Iran, the MB in Syria has adopted a hostile stance toward Tehran, condemning its policies.

Iran’s ties with the Egyptian MB date back to the 1930s, when the movement’s founder, Hassan al-Banna, met with Ruhollah Khomeini. Later, Ali Khamenei even translated into Persian the works of Sayyid Qutb, a prominent ideologue of the radical current within the Egyptian MB. Despite the Sunni-Shia divide, the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran is perceived by the MB as an inspirational model due to its success in establishing an Islamic order based on Sharia and creating a regime that resists Western influence in the Muslim world.

The military attacks on Iran in June 2025 and February 2026 are viewed by the Egyptian MB as assaults on Islam and attempts to expand Israeli hegemony in the region. On June 18, 2025, Salah Abd al-Haq, leader of the “Turkey Front”, one of three leadership branches of the Egyptian MB in exile in Turkey,[1] issued a proclamation supporting the Iranian regime, emphasizing that:

“Israeli aggression against Iran represents a new stage in the aggression against Palestine, as the occupation government acts out of motives of revenge for the support the Islamic Republic provides to the Palestinian resistance, alongside additional strategic objectives aimed at imposing the occupation entity’s hegemony over the region by weakening its centers of power. This occurs with the extensive support of the United States and other Western countries, who were alarmed by the defeat suffered by the occupation state on October 7, 2023, thereby giving free rein to Netanyahu’s extreme government to restore lost security—without regard for the level of brutality necessary to achieve this goal. […] The Muslim Brotherhood has no doubt that our enemy is one—the Zionist entity—and that the primary weapon we must cling to is the unity of the Islamic nation”[2]

On March 16, Abd al-Haq released another statement reaffirming support for the Iranian regime and asserting Iran’s right to self-defense against U.S.-Israeli aggression, while simultaneously condemning American and Israeli attempts to establish Western hegemony in the Middle East.[3]

The proclamations of support by Salah Abd al-Haq, leader of the Egyptian MB’s Turkey branch, for the Iranian regime came in the context of the Israeli-American attacks on Iran in June 2025 and February 2026.

By contrast, the Syrian MB issued a sharp statement refusing to take sides. From their perspective, Israel and Iran are both criminal entities competing for control, at the expense of Arab peoples. On March 7, 2026, Saad al-Khatib, the Syrian MB’s media spokesperson, described Israel and Iran as two criminal power actors seeking to capture Arab capitals and devastate their countries. He clarified that his critique of Iran should not be interpreted as support for Israel, but rather as an effort to raise awareness of the crimes committed by Iran and Ali Khamenei’s “gang” against the people of Syria, who remain “in tents, with the mothers of martyrs still in camps, and the cities still in ruins.” According to him, Iran propagated a false narrative of fighting the U.S. and Israel, while in practice it destroyed Muslim cities in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen.[4]

Saad al‑Khatib, spokesperson of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria, condemning the Iranian regime (March 2026)

The Syrian MB’s hostility toward Iran stems from several key factors:

1. The Hama Massacre (1982): When the Syrian regime massacred MB members in the city of Hama, Iran remained silent, prioritizing its alliance with the Assad family over religious solidarity.
2. The Syrian Civil War: Since 2011, Iran has been a central actor in defending Bashar al-Assad’s rule, deploying foreign Shia fighters and suppressing Sunni populations that threatened the regime. For the Syrian MB, Iran bears responsibility for the country’s destruction and the displacement of millions of Sunnis.
3. Religious-ideological opposition: Thinkers and religious figures affiliated with the Syrian MB, past and present, such as Sheikh Said Hawwa in the 1980s, view Khomeini’s revolutionary ideology as a dangerous religious deviation aimed at undermining Sunni identity in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

Said Hawwa, former prominent leader of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria and a sharp critic of Khomeini’s ideology.[5]

In summary, the Egyptian MB regards Iran as a symbol of resistance to the West and as part of a broader struggle over Islamic identity and the power of the Muslim world, while the Syrian MB perceives it as a predatory empire—essentially no different from Israel. The divergence between the two branches suggests that the movement functions more as a broad ideological network than a unified hierarchical organization. This structure provides flexibility and adaptability, but it also exposes inconsistencies and, at times, significant internal divisions.

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[1] Regarding the split into three leadership factions within the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood that occurred after the military coup in Egypt (2013), see: Michael Barak, “The Muslim Brotherhood and the Strategic Reframing of the Palestinian Cause in the Aftermath of October 7”, Araucaria Revista Iberoamericana de Filosofía, Política, Humanidades y Relaciones Internacionales, No.59, 2025, pp.87-110.

[2] Salah Abd al‑Haq, “Letter to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran” [in Arabic], The Muslim Brotherhood, 18 June 2025, https://ikhwan.site/p-223235

[3] Salah Abd al‑Haq, “The Movement’s Position on the Aggression Waged by the United States and the Zionist Occupation Entity Against the Islamic Republic of Iran” [in Arabic], The Muslim Brotherhood, 16 March 2026, https://ikhwan.site/p-223404

[4] Saad al‑Khatib, “Saad al‑Khatib: The Current War Is Between Murderers, Criminals, and Occupiers… and the Syrian People Have the Right to Rejoice at the Death of Their Murderers” [in Arabic], The Muslim Brotherhood Syria, 7 March 2026. https://ikhwansyria.com/سعد-الخطيب-الحرب-الحالية-هي-بين-قاتلين/

[5] “Sheikh Said Hawwa: Khomeinism Pretends Concern for Islamic Unity While Driving Wedge After Wedge into the Foundations of the One Nation, Morning and Evening” [in Arabic], The Muslim Brotherhood Syria, 8 March 2026, https://tinyurl.com/4dcrtpv3