Trump Begins Process to Designate Muslim Brotherhood Chapters as Terrorist Groups

US President Donald Trump on Monday launched a formal process to designate several chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) or specially designated global terrorists (SDGTs), a step that could impose sweeping sanctions on one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.

According to a White House fact sheet, Trump signed an executive order instructing Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to evaluate whether Muslim Brotherhood branches in countries such as Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon meet the criteria for terrorist designation. The order requires the secretaries to submit a report on their findings and proceed with any recommended designations within 45 days.

The administration has accused certain Brotherhood factions of supporting or encouraging attacks against Israel and U.S. regional partners, as well as providing material support to Hamas.

“President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood’s transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilization campaigns against U.S. interests and allies in the Middle East,” the White House statement said.

Founded in Egypt in the 1920s as a political movement aimed at countering secular and nationalist ideologies, the Muslim Brotherhood expanded rapidly across the Middle East. Though influential, many of its chapters have long operated in secrecy and remain the subject of deep political controversy across the region.