US President Donald Trump on Monday urged the US government to consider labeling some Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations. The move targets the long-debated Islamist movement, which has influence across several countries in the region.
Through an executive order, Trump told his administration to examine whether Muslim Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan and other places should be listed as foreign terrorist organisations. He gave Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent 30 days to prepare a report and another 45 days after that to act on it.
The order said the Muslim Brotherhood groups in these three countries “engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilisation campaigns.”
It also accused the military wing of the group’s Lebanese branch of firing rockets at Israel after the terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023. The order further claimed that a leader of the Egyptian chapter “encouraged violent attacks against US partners” following the same attack.
What is Muslim Brotherhood?
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt nearly a hundred years ago and has grown into a major political force in several Middle Eastern nations. After the fall of Hosni Mubarak, Mohammed Morsi – who led a political party tied to the Muslim Brotherhood – was elected president of Egypt in 2012, but the military removed him from power a year later, according to a report by CBS News.
Some leaders connected to the Muslim Brotherhood have publicly rejected violence. Even so, the group has always been controversial. Critics, including some US allies, argue that certain branches have supported violence or promoted extremist ideas. Egypt banned the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013 and Jordan also banned it earlier this year.
According to the White House, members of the Jordanian chapter have “long provided material support to the militant wing of Hamas,” which is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and is already labeled as a foreign terrorist organisation by the U.S.
What the terror label means under US law
If these groups are officially designated as foreign terrorist organisations, anyone knowingly giving them money or other support would be breaking US law. The designation also allows the US government to freeze their assets and block members from entering the country.
“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilisation campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East,” the White House said in a fact sheet on Monday.
Trump’s order came about a week after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott labeled the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation and blocked it from purchasing land. Abbott also targeted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which led to a lawsuit by the civil rights group.
Trump has used his executive powers widely to label groups as terrorist organisations. Earlier this year, his administration designated several Latin American drug cartels as foreign terrorist groups and recently added Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles to the list.
