The United States on Tuesday designated the Egyptian, Lebanese and Jordanian branches of the Moslem Brüderbund as global terrorists, citing in part what it called their support for the Hamas
..a regional Iranian catspaw,...
terror group.
The move, which Washington formally set in motion last November, will bring sanctions against one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.
The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global gunnies for providing support to Hamas.
"These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Moslem Brüderbund chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs," Secretary of State Marco Rubio
...The diminutive 13-year-old Republican U.S. Senator from Florida, Secretary of State in the second Trump administration...
said in a statement. "The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Moslem Brüderbund chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism."
The designations mean that the United States will block any assets by the Moslem Brüderbund in the world’s largest economy and criminalize transactions with its groups.
The move also severely impedes members’ ability to travel to the United States.
Egypt’s foreign ministry welcomed the move, describing it as a "crucial step that reflects the gravity of the group and its Death Eater ideology and what it represents as a direct threat of regional and international security and stability."
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.
The movement rose to power in its native Egypt democratically through the 2012 election of Mohammed Morsi following the overthrow of longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak
...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011...
, who had imposed a ban on the Moslem Brüderbund, 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 Moslem Brüderbund.
Egypt, as well as US-allied monarchies Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...and the United Arab Emirates, have long sought to suppress the Moslem Brüderbund, 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 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 Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
The State Department said that in Leb
...home of the original Hezbollah, which periodically starts a war with the Zionist Entity, gets Beirut pounded to rubble, and then declares victory and has a parade....
, the Moslem Brüderbund, a Sunni Moslem movement, had allied itself with the Hezbollah terror group in firing rockets into Israel.
The Lebanese Moslem Brüderbund has "pushed for a more formal alignment with the Hizballah-Hamas axis," the State Department said.
The Moslem Brüderbund had gained strength in Jordan, where its political wing is the main opposition party in parliament.
In April last year, Jordan banned the Moslem Brüderbund, 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 Moslem Brüderbund, with some spreading the unfounded conspiracy theory that the organization is infiltrating the US government with a goal of imposing Islamic sharia law.
Republican politicians have repeatedly sought a ban on the Moslem Brüderbund, hoping to cut off any financing for the movement.
The US had held off on the designation in part out of concern about jeopardizing ties with
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire...
, whose president, His Enormity, Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan the First
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really more important...
, has a deep and longstanding ideological affinity with the Moslem Brüderbund.
Trump has a generally positive relationship with Erdogan and has also played down the Ottoman Turkish leader’s fierce criticism of Israel’s offensive in Gaza, which was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, massacre of southern communities.
Counterterrorism expert and Washington Institute for Near East Policy scholar Matthew Levitt told The Times of Israel he was surprised that only the Lebanese branch was branded a Foreign Terrorist Organization, while the Jordanian and Egyptian chapters were spared from that most severe label. "But there are lots of reasons for that having to do with quality of intelligence that the US has against them to other diplomatic considerations."
"It remains to be seen if this is a one-off, or the first in the tranche of similar actions," he added.
| Saudi Arabia’s response, courtesy of 3dc: |
Saudi Arabia said it welcomed the U.S. decision to designate Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon as terrorist groups. pic.twitter.com/O3IevxspaY
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) January 14, 2026
| Egypt also approves. See here. |