US Designates Muslim Brotherhood Chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as Foreign Terror Groups
The State Department and Treasury Department jointly announced on Tuesday that the US is designating chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon as foreign terrorist groups.
Leader of the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh, will be listed as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to address Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Rubio stated.
“The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”
The Treasury Department is also designating the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood as SDGTs for aiding and abetting Hamas.
Treasury officials mentioned that the Egyptian chapter had been coordinating and funding the Palestinian terror group Hamas for years. They also noted the involvement of the Jordanian chapter in supporting Hamas despite being dissolved by a judicial verdict in 2020.
“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 Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John. K. Hurley.
The designations follow President Trump’s November executive order to eliminate the capabilities and operations of Muslim Brotherhood chapters designated as foreign terrorist organizations.
The Brotherhood has been accused of embedding on US college campuses as part of a long-term plan to “transform Western society from within,” according to a report by the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP).
President Trump had requested a report from various officials on whether the Muslim Brotherhood chapters in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon could receive the terror designation.
The Treasury Department will now economically sanction all property or interests held by the three chapters in the US, as well as any other entities majority-owned by the Muslim Brotherhood.
Both Florida and Texas have previously designated the group as a foreign terrorist organization.
The public relations arm for the Brotherhood did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
