In a major geopolitical move, US President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order directing the United States government to begin the process of designating specific chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations.
The order singles out the group’s branches operating in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan, citing their alleged involvement in violence and destabilising activities that threaten both regional stability and US interests.
According to the executive order, these chapters “engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilisation campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.”
Founded in Egypt in 1928, the Muslim Brotherhood grew into a broad pan-Islamist movement across the Arab world. Its founder, Hassan al-Banna, envisioned a revival of Islamic values as a path for Muslim societies to resist foreign domination and reclaim political agency. Over the decades, the group has played vastly different roles across different countries — sometimes political, sometimes social, and in some cases, militant.
If the US proceeds with this designation, it gains broad powers to impose sanctions: freezing any US-based assets connected to the organisation and barring suspected members from entering the country. The next critical steps lie with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who must now determine whether to finalise the designation.
Some nations, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, have long outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group. Earlier this year, Jordan also banned the organisation, accusing it of manufacturing weapons and planning destabilisation plots. Despite previously operating openly and enjoying wide public support in Jordan, the Brotherhood had already faced increasing legal pressures, especially after the Jordanian top court dissolved the group in 2020.
In Egypt, the group has been outlawed since 2013 following the removal of then-president Mohamed Morsi, a leading Brotherhood figure, in a military coup led by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi — now Egypt’s president and a close US ally.
The US move quickly drew international reactions. Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, welcomed the decision, calling it “an important decision not only for the State of Israel but also for neighbouring Arab countries that have suffered from Muslim Brotherhood terrorism for decades.”
In Europe, scrutiny of the group has also intensified. Earlier this year, French President Emmanuel Macron instructed his government to draft strategies aimed at countering the Muslim Brotherhood’s influence within France.
