The United States on Tuesday 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 Arab world but it has been in retreat as it comes under concerted pressure from major Arab powers.

“Today, as a first step in support of President Trump’s commitment to eliminate the capabilities and operations of Muslim Brotherhood chapters that pose a threat to the United States as described in Executive Order 14362, the United States is imposing terrorist designations against the Lebanese, Jordanian, and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs.

“The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”

The designations mean that the United States will block any assets by the Muslim Brotherhood in the world’s largest economy and criminalize transactions with the groups.

The move also severely impedes members’ ability to travel to the United States.

Egypt hailed the decision, which President Donald Trump in November had set in motion in November.

The terrorist designation “reflects the danger of this group and its extremist ideology and the direct threat it poses to regional and international security and stability,” the Egyptian foreign ministry said in a statement.

The movement rose to power in its native Egypt democratically through the 2012 election of Mohamed Morsi following the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak, who had imposed a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood even though some of its activities were tolerated, including its network of social services.

Morsi was deposed in 2013 in a coup by then military chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who has since pursued a sweeping crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood.

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 unified Islamic caliphate.

Targeting links with Hamas

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 United States.

The Treasury Department said that the Egyptian and Jordanian branches of the brotherhood both have coordinated with Hamas, whose massive October 7, 2023 attack on Israel triggered an overwhelming Israeli offensive into 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 Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood has “pushed for a more formal alignment with the Hizballah-Hamas axis,” the State Department said.

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 destabilize 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 organization is infiltrating the US government with a goal of imposing Islamic sharia law.

Republican lawmakers have repeatedly sought a ban on the Muslim Brotherhood, hoping to cut off any financing for the movement.

The United States had held off on the designation in part out of concern about jeopardizing ties with Turkey, whose president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has deep and longstanding ideological affinity with the Muslim Brotherhood.

Trump has a generally positive relationship with Erdogan and has also played down the Turkish leader’s fierce criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza.

(The PUNCH)

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