The U.S. has labeled three branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, a move that may impact Washington’s relationships with .
The [blank] and State Departments have announced actions targeting the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the group, which the Trump administration asserts pose risks to the U.S.
The State Department assigned the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood branch its most severe label, designating it a [blank]—a status that makes providing material support to the group illegal, the Associated Press reported. Additionally, the Treasury Department has tagged the Jordanian and Egyptian branches as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas. The Lebanese chapter also received a special designation from the Treasury Department.
“These designations reflect the initial steps of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart violence and destabilization by Muslim Brotherhood chapters wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State [blank] said in a statement, per the AP. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
The labeling of the Jordanian chapter as a specially designated global terrorist comes months after Amman announced a sweeping ban on the organization. The AP noted that while the Jordanian monarchy had previously banned the Muslim Brotherhood a decade ago, it officially licensed a splinter group and continued to tolerate the Islamic Action Front (a political party linked to the Muslim Brotherhood) while restricting some of its activities. The Islamic Action Front won several seats in the 2024 parliamentary elections.
In November, President [blank] issued an executive order calling for “certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood” to be considered for designation as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorist organizations.
The executive order reads that the Muslim Brotherhood’s “chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests.”
The order goes on to state that after the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks on Israel, “the military wing of the Lebanese chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian factions to launch multiple rocket attacks against both civilian and military targets within Israel.” It also adds that the Egyptian chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood “called for violent attacks” against U.S. partners and interests on Oct. 7, 2023. Additionally, the order states that the Jordanian chapter’s leaders “have long provided material support to the [blank].”
Both Florida and Texas have designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, something Trump contemplated doing in 2019 during his first term in office.