WASHINGTON, Jan 14 — The US yesterday designated the Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as terrorist organisations, fulfilling a long demand of Arab allies and US conservatives.

Founded in 1928 in Egypt, the pan-Islamist movement once spread across the Muslim world, but it has been in retreat as it comes under concerted pressure from major Arab powers.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilisation wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Muslim Brotherhood “has a longstanding record of perpetuating acts of terror, and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system.”

The designations mean that the US will block any assets owned by the Muslim Brotherhood in the world’s largest economy, criminalise transactions with its members and severely impede their ability to travel to the country.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in a statement posted to social media vowed to seek legal channels to challenge the decision, saying it opposed violence and has never threatened the US.

“This designation is both detached from reality and unsupported by evidence. It is a result of foreign pressure on the US, particularly from the UAE and Israel, to adopt policies that serve external agendas rather than the interests of the American people,” it said.

Egypt as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have long sought to suppress the Muslim Brotherhood, whose vision calls for the creation of a transnational Islamic caliphate.

The movement briefly rose to power democratically in its native Egypt through the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi following the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak, under whom the Muslim Brotherhood was banned, although some of its activities had been tolerated, including its network of social services.

Morsi was deposed a year later in a coup by then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since pursued a sweeping crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egypt’s foreign ministry hailed the US decision, which was set in motion by Trump in November, as reflecting “the danger of this group and its extremist ideology and the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability.”

‘Turkey is key’ 

Crushed at home, Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood members have focused on building a network overseas of businesses, media outlets and declared charities.

A key base has been Turkey, where President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has deep and longstanding ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The US decision will “put a lot of pressure on countries friendly with the US — do they want to host entities that are designated terrorist organisations by the US?” said Lorenzo Vidino, an expert on the Muslim Brotherhood who directs The George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

“I don’t think that will destroy them, but there’s no question that it puts them under a lot of pressure,” he said.

The Trump administration designated the groups in part on the basis of their support for Hamas, the Palestinian armed group long classified as terrorist by the US.

The Treasury Department said that the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the brotherhood have coordinated with Hamas, whose massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered an overwhelming Israeli offensive on Gaza.

The State Department said that in Lebanon, the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Muslim movement, had allied itself with Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite militants, in firing rockets into Israel.

The Muslim Brotherhood had gained strength in Jordan, where its political wing is the main opposition party in parliament.

In April last year, Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood, ordering confiscation of its assets, after accusing the movement of stockpiling weapons and planning to destabilise the kingdom, which has a peace agreement with Israel.

In recent years, US conservatives have also seized upon the Muslim Brotherhood, with some spreading the unfounded conspiracy theory that the organisation is infiltrating the US government with a goal of imposing Islamic syariah law. — AFP