Trump takes key step toward terrorism label for Muslim Brotherhood

By Nick Wadhams

 

President Donald Trump ordered his administration to study labeling some parts of the Muslim Brotherhood as foreign terrorist organisations, a step toward fulfilling his longtime goal of slapping the designation on the broader group. 

In an executive order signed Monday, Trump ordered Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to study whether brotherhood chapters including those in Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan deserved the designation.

 

“The Order’s ultimate aim is to eliminate the designated chapters’ capabilities and operations, deprive them of resources, and end any threat such chapters pose to US nationals and the national security of the United States,” according to a White House fact sheet.

 

Many members of the Republican Party as well as leaders in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have long urged Trump to categorise the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, a move that would subject it to economic and travel sanctions.

 

Trump weighed doing so in his first term but faced resistance from Turkey as well as advisers who warned that branding the brotherhood as terrorists might fuel extremism and upset Muslims.

 

The Muslim Brotherhood movement, which has independently operating chapters in different countries, has a broad following in nations with large Muslim populations. Political parties in some countries consider themselves as having ties to the Brotherhood but denounce violent extremism.

 

Earlier this year, Rubio said the terrorism designation was “in the works.”