The United States has designated Muslim Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as terrorist organizations, a move that drew praise from Arab governments, provoked vows of legal resistance from the group, and underscored the wider regional and international stakes surrounding the Brotherhood’s role in politics and security.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Tuesday the designations were the first steps in a sustained effort to thwart violence and destabilization by Muslim Brotherhood chapters “wherever it occurs.”
The United States “will use all available tools” to deprive the chapters of resources needed to engage in or support terrorism, Rubio added.
According to statements by the US State and Treasury departments, the Trump administration designated the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood as SDGTs.
It also designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, known as Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah, as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), the most legally severe designation. The administration also listed the Lebanese group as an SDGT and designated its leader, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, as an SDGT.
The SDGT designations freeze any property tied to the listed individuals or entities that is in the United States or under the control of US persons, and require it to be reported to the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC).
The restrictions also extend to entities owned 50% or more, directly or indirectly, by blocked persons, and generally bar US persons from most transactions involving blocked property.
The designations also widen legal and financial risk: sanctions violations can bring civil or criminal penalties. Some dealings can expose non-US banks and other actors to sanctions risk, including potential secondary sanctions that can restrict a foreign bank’s access to US correspondent accounts.
Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said the move could strain US bilateral relations with governments that tolerate the Muslim Brotherhood, including Qatar and Turkey.
Brown also said the designations could have direct consequences for visa and asylum applications, not only to the US but also to Western Europe and Canada.
“The decision will give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion,” Brown said, adding it could make courts less inclined to question official measures taken against members seeking to stay in the US or applying for political asylum.
Official welcome
The US decision comes within a broader context of measures taken in recent years by several Arab and foreign states against the Brotherhood, including legal bans, prosecutions, and efforts to cut off funding sources.
The group that was founded in Egypt in 1928 and was banned there by a court ruling in 2013.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan have all previously designated the Brotherhood, or affiliated branches, as terrorist organizations, citing accusations that it fuels regional tensions and supports armed and extremist groups.
Cairo welcomed the US decision, calling it a “pivotal step.” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday the move “reflects the danger posed by this group’s extremist ideology” and the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability.
In Jordan, government spokesperson Mohammad Al-Momani said in a post on X that the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan has been dissolved “by force of law” for years, a status he said was confirmed by a 2020 court ruling. He added that authorities banned all of its activities in April 2025.
Momani said Jordan handles all matters in line with “the supreme national interest” and in accordance with the constitution and the law.
His statement came as Jordanian authorities conduct expanded legal investigations. Quds News Network, which is close to Hamas, said Jordan’s public prosecution accused several leaders and members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood of money laundering over alleged financing of Hamas and Palestinian armed groups during Israel’s war on Gaza.
Quds News Network said those accused include the group’s general controller, Murad Adaileh, and his deputy, Ahmad Zarkan.
The UAE welcomed the Trump administration’s designations, and the Emirati Foreign Ministry said the decision reflects the “sustained and systematic efforts” to counter violence and destabilizing activities carried out by terrorist Muslim Brotherhood branches “wherever they operate.”
The Financial Times reported the UAE halted scholarship funding for students seeking to enroll at British universities after the British government refused to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
Saudi Arabia also welcomed the US decision. The kingdom’s Foreign Ministry said in a brief statement it condemns extremism and terrorism and supports whatever helps achieve the security, stability, and prosperity of Arab states, the region, and the world.
Egypt’s Brotherhood rejects decision
The Muslim Brotherhood’s Salah Abdel Haq front, which presents Abdel Haq as acting supreme guide in Egypt, rejected the US decision, calling it an “unjust decision” not based on credible legal evidence.
In a media statement attributed to its spokesperson, Suhaib Abdel Maqsoud, the group said it would take “all legal measures” to stop the decision’s implementation in a way that protects its rights and those of its members.
The statement warned the decision could be used as a pretext by “authoritarian regimes” to intensify reprisals against political opponents and civil society activists. It said “racist currents” promoting Islamophobia could also exploit the decision to incite against Muslims in the West.
The group described itself as a social and political movement with a “moderate Islamic frame of reference” and said such measures would not prevent it from continuing its civil, social, political, and religious outreach activities.
Mahmoud Hussein, who also presents himself as an acting leader of the group, declined to comment to Al Manassa in a phone call, saying the group had previously issued a statement expressing its position.
Hussein’s front issued a statement in November 2025 rejecting Trump’s announcement that he would begin steps to list the group as a terrorist organization. That statement said the move was linked to the Brotherhood’s support for Palestinian rights and its rejection of what it called wars of extermination in Gaza.
The group has never resorted to violence and is part of Egypt’s national fabric, the statement said, citing international reports including a report presented to the British House of Commons in 2015 that the statement said described the Brotherhood as a barrier to extremist currents. The statement said the US move represents bias toward “authoritarian regimes.”
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is experiencing a deep internal split and is currently divided into three main fronts: one led by Hussein, a second led by Abdel Haq, with both using the name “Muslim Brotherhood” in their organizational and media representation.
A third front is known as the “Muslim Brotherhood Change Current.” Some members of this current face accusations of involvement in violence in 2015 and 2016 and are known in media as the “Mohamed Kamal Brotherhood.” Mohamed Kamal was killed during a security operation carried out by Egyptian police while they attempted to arrest him.
Lebanon’s Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah
Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiyah in Lebanon said the terrorist designation is a US political and administrative decision not based on any Lebanese or international judicial ruling.
In a statement, it said the designation has no legal effect inside Lebanon and that their sole reference is the Lebanese constitution, laws, and official institutions.
It described itself as a licensed Lebanese political and social component that works openly within the law and said no court ruling has convicted or criminalized it.
The group said it rejects terrorism and violence in all forms and stressed it has never participated in violent acts inside or outside Lebanon. It warned against dragging Lebanon into external classifications and conflicts that do not serve its national interest.
There was no official comment from the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan. However, Khaled Eljuhani, office director of the Islamic Action Front (the Brotherhood’s political arm in Jordan) wrote on X that what is happening is a “war on Islam, not on the Brotherhood.”
Eljuhani said the targeting of the group is an extension of earlier efforts by Arab regimes, referring to historical experiences with leaders such as Gamal Abdel Nasser, Habib Bourguiba and Hafez Al-Assad. Those regimes “vanished and the Brotherhood remained,” he wrote.
