US President Donald Trump has taken its first procedural steps toward designating several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, a move the White House claims intends to safeguard its national security.
Trump signed an executive order Monday, based on the executive order signed by then-president Bush in advance of the US invasion of Afghanistan (Order no. 13224 on Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism).
Trump's order demands a sweeping review led by the Departments of State and Treasury to determine whether Brotherhood branches in Lebanon, Egypt, and Jordan meet the legal criteria for designation.
“This action enhances Treasury’s ability to disrupt terrorist financing networks and protect the integrity of the US financial system,” according to the US Treasury Department's Tuesday post on X.
The nationwide order follows an earlier decision by Texas governor Greg Abbott to designate both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest Muslim advocacy group in the US, as “foreign terrorist organizations and transnational criminal organizations” within the state. This move begets fear on whether other Muslim-American aid groups not affiliated with the MB would be affected across the US.
Under the new order, the agencies must submit a joint report within 30 days, followed by “appropriate” actions within 45 days of the report’s delivery to the president.
The order argues that the Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, has evolved into a “transnational network” with political and social influence across multiple countries. It goes on to claim that some of its branches have fuelled “terrorism and destabilization campaigns against US interests and allies in the Middle East.”
As an example, the order cites what it describes as the “military wing of the Brotherhood in Lebanon” allegedly joining rocket attacks against Israel following Hamas’s Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7, 2023.
The statement also accuses the movement’s Egyptian and Jordanian branches of incitement or providing material support to Hamas, arguing that these activities “encouraged violent attacks against US partners and equities in the Middle East.”
According to the 2001 executive order, any entity added to the list of foreign terrorist organizations becomes subject to extensive restrictions. This includes the criminalization of providing material support, the freezing of any US-based assets, and rendering its members eligible for deportation from the United States.
If Washington proceeds, the potential designation would apply to Brotherhood branches already banned in several countries, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, while Jordan had already prohibited Brotherhood activities and seized its headquarters in April.
The US move comes amid a wider global debate over the Brotherhood’s influence. In May, France announced proposals to confront what it called the movement’s political and social impact as part of its approach to containing what it terms “political Islam.”
Attention will now turn to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bisent, tasked with completing the legal review and determining whether the three targeted branches will be formally placed on the US terrorism list—a step expected to increase international pressure on one of the region’s oldest and most prominent Islamic movements.
Egypt already labels the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, having removed it from political life in 2013 following the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi.
