The Muslim Brotherhood Threat to the United States

Following the U.S. government's long-delayed decision on designating the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliated networks as terrorist organizations, the Lebanese branch is now a Foreign Terrorist Organization, while the Egyptian and Jordanian branches are Specially Designated Global Terrorists, and the relevant sanctions have been implemented. Just recently, the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood was also added as a Special Designated Global Terrorist, with the "intent to designate" it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Yet in two of these three countries, the Muslim Brotherhood is in any case banned – in Egypt since 2013 and in Jordan since April 2025 – as it is across the Arab and Muslim world: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Syria, and, to some extent, Libya.

The U.S. move also appears to have prompted recent action across the West: In January 2026, Argentina declared the Lebanese, Egyptian, and Jordanian chapters terrorist. This month, the Dutch parliament approved a motion to ban the organization, and is now exploring how it can ban terrorist organizations more quickly. An Irish MP criticized the fact that the Brotherhood is not "the subject of a suppression order" in the Republic of Ireland. She added that "this is in stark contrast to the action taken by the U.S. Department of State" and called the Muslim Brotherhood "a lethal organization determined to cast the net of its poisonous ideological extremism as far as possible into the heart of Western democracies." Prior to the U.S. move, Austria had banned the Brotherhood under 2021 anti-terrorism legislation; besides that, one city in Germany banned a single Brotherhood-affiliated organization in 2024 and France closed some mosques that support its ideology.

The Muslim Brotherhood threat was underlined in the 2026 Annual Threat Assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, released this month. It stated: "The spread of Islamist ideology – in some cases led by individuals and organizations associated with the Muslim Brotherhood who have provided financial and other forms of material support to terrorist groups such as HAMAS and Hizballah – poses a fundamental threat to freedom and foundational principles that underpin Western Civilization. Violent networks, including supporters of Al-Qaeda and ISIS, often use appeals to Islamist identities and ideology to fuel recruiting and financial support for terrorist groups and individuals around the world. At the extreme end are groups that endorse the violent imposition of Sharia in governance, directly undermining fundamental Western freedoms of speech and religion, with the ultimate aim of establishing an Islamist caliphate. There are growing examples of this in various European countries such as Austria, Germany, and the UK. The designation of Muslim Brotherhood chapters that fund and promote violence as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) is a mechanism to secure Americans against this threat."