President Donald Trump’s administration on Tuesday labeled three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on the groups and their members in a decision the administration said could affect U.S. relationships with allies in the region.
The U.S. Treasury and State departments announced the actions against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters, saying they pose a risk to the United States and American interests.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Treasury listed the Jordanian and Egyptian branches as specially designated global terrorists, saying they provided support to Hamas.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. Rubio also said, “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year by an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups. U.S. officials said the sanctioned groups engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.
Bessent said in a post on X that the Muslim Brotherhood “has a longstanding record of perpetrating acts of terror, and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system.” He added that the administration will “deploy the full scope of its authorities to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat terrorist networks wherever they operate in order to keep Americans safe.”
Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence, and the Brotherhood branches in Egypt and Lebanon denounced their inclusion in the designations. The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement it “categorically rejects this designation” and would pursue legal avenues to challenge it, denying any involvement in or support for terrorism. The Lebanese branch, known as al-Jamaa al-Islamiya (the Islamic Group), said it is “a licensed Lebanese political and social entity that operates openly and within the bounds of the law” and said the U.S. decision “has no legal effect within Lebanon.”
The executive order that Trump signed cited specific links between the Brotherhood chapters and Hamas and violence after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel. It said a wing of the Lebanese chapter launched rockets on Israel after the attack, and it said leaders of the group in Jordan provided support to Hamas.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 and was banned there in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April. Egypt’s foreign ministry on Tuesday welcomed the designation and praised Trump’s efforts to combat global terrorism, saying the step reflects what it called the extremist ideology of the group and the threat it poses to regional and international security and stability.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said other U.S. allies—including the United Arab Emirates—would likely be pleased with the designation. He said it would be “a thorn in bilateral relations” for governments where the Brotherhood is tolerated, including Qatar and Turkey, and said Qatar’s government has denied any relationship with the group.
Brown also said the designation could have effects on visa and asylum claims beyond the United States, extending to Western European countries and Canada. He said it could give immigration officials “a stronger basis for suspicion” and might make courts less likely to question official action against Brotherhood members seeking political asylum.
Trump weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office, and some supporters of more aggressive action pressed for similar measures. Two Republican-led state governments—Florida and Texas—designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.