The United States has officially designated branches of the Muslim Brotherhood operating in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organisations, marking a significant escalation in Washington’s stance toward the Islamist movement.
The announcement was made on Tuesday by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who described the action as the first step in a broader campaign aimed at curbing the group’s influence and activities.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilisation wherever it occurs,” Rubio said in a statement. He added that the US would “use all available tools” to cut off resources that could enable the group to engage in or support terrorism.
The move follows a directive issued by President Donald Trump in November, instructing his administration to begin the process of taking action against the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-Islamist organisation founded in Egypt in 1928 that has since developed networks across much of the Arab world.
US officials said the decision to designate the Egyptian and Jordanian branches was based on allegations that they provided support to Hamas, the Palestinian armed group which Washington has long classified as a terrorist organisation.
The Muslim Brotherhood has played a controversial role in modern Middle Eastern politics. In Egypt, it briefly came to power through democratic elections that brought Mohamed Morsi to the presidency. His government was overthrown in 2013 after a military coup led by then army chief Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who later became president and launched a sweeping crackdown on the group.
Egypt, along with key US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, has for years lobbied for tougher international measures against the Muslim Brotherhood, accusing it of fuelling extremism and threatening regional stability. The latest US decision aligns Washington more closely with those long-standing demands.
