US President Donald Trump began the process on Monday, November 24, to designate several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organizations, a step that will bring sanctions against one of the oldest and most influential Islamist movements in the Arab world.
As the White House announces, Trump has signed an executive order that requires Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to submit a report to determine whether any branches of the Muslim Brotherhood, such as those in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan, should be declared a terrorist organization.
The order states that the secretaries must act within 45 days of the report's submission.
The Trump administration has accused some Muslim Brotherhood factions in these countries of supporting or encouraging violent attacks on Israel and US partners, or of providing material assistance to the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
"President Trump is confronting the Muslim Brotherhood's transnational network, which fuels terrorism and destabilizing campaigns against U.S. interests and allies in the Middle East," the White House document states.
Republicans and right-wing voices have long called for the Muslim Brotherhood to be designated a terrorist organization. It should be noted that President Trump made a similar effort during his first term.
The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in the 1920s as an Islamic political movement to oppose the spread of secular (not based on religious doctrine) and nationalist ideas. It quickly spread to Muslim countries, becoming a significant actor, but often operating covertly.