Ahmed Kamel – Egypt Daily News
The Trump administration has formally designated Muslim Brotherhood chapters operating in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as foreign terrorist organizations, escalating a long-debated U.S. policy shift toward the Islamist movement and tightening financial and legal pressure on its regional networks.
In a joint announcement on Tuesday, the State Department and the Treasury Department said the decision targets what officials described as the groups’ long-standing involvement in violence, terrorism financing and efforts to destabilize governments across the Middle East. As part of the move, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, identified as the leader of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, was named a Specially Designated Global Terrorist, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to address Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Rubio said in a statement, adding that Washington would use “all available tools” to cut off resources used to support terrorism.
Treasury officials said the Egyptian and Jordanian branches were also designated as Specially Designated Global Terrorists for what they described as extensive support for Hamas. According to U.S. officials, the Egyptian chapter, founded in 1928 and long a central force in the Brotherhood’s global network, has coordinated with and funded Hamas for years. Officials said it also received money from the Palestinian militant group to help foment unrest aimed at destabilizing Egypt’s government.
In Jordan, Treasury officials said Brotherhood members had “materially assisted Hamas” and had been implicated in terrorism cases, despite the group having been dissolved by court order in 2020 and formally outlawed by the Jordanian government earlier this year.
“Despite their peaceful public façade, both the Egyptian and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood branches have conspired to support Hamas’s terrorism and undermine the sovereignty of their own national governments,” said John K. Hurley, the Treasury Department’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.
The designations build on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump in November directing the administration to eliminate the capabilities and operations of Muslim Brotherhood chapters deemed to pose a threat to U.S. national security. That order cited specific actions following Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, including claims that the military wing of the Lebanese Brotherhood joined Hamas, Hezbollah and other factions in launching rocket attacks against Israeli civilian and military targets.
The order also said a senior leader of the Egyptian Brotherhood publicly called for violent attacks against U.S. partners and interests on the day of the October 7 assault, while Jordanian Brotherhood leaders were accused of providing material support to Hamas’s armed wing.
U.S. officials have also pointed to concerns beyond the Middle East. A report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy has argued that the Brotherhood has pursued a long-term strategy of influencing Western societies from within, including through activity on U.S. college campuses. Trump’s executive order tasked senior officials, including Rubio, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, with evaluating whether specific Brotherhood chapters met the legal threshold for terrorist designation.
As a result of the decision, the Treasury Department will freeze any property or financial interests held by the three designated chapters in the United States, as well as assets of entities majority-owned by them. The move also exposes individuals and organizations providing material support to potential criminal penalties.
Several U.S. states, including Florida and Texas, have previously designated the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization at the state level, though the group has long disputed accusations of terrorism and insists it is a peaceful political movement.
The Brotherhood’s public relations representatives did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
