U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio revealed on Tuesday that the Trump administration seeks to officially designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization.
“We are constantly reviewing for groups to designate for what they are: supporters of terrorists, maybe terrorists themselves, whatever it may be. We haven’t done this in a long time, so it’s – we’ve got a lot of catch-up to do. And you’ve mentioned a couple names, particularly the Muslim Brotherhood, that are of grave concern,” Rubio stated in an interview with the ABC program, “Sid & Friends In the Morning.”
While signaling that this legal process was “in the works,” Washington’s top diplomat acknowledged that the United States is facing multiple challenges, which include designating every branch of the Muslim Brotherhood individually. He added that the terrorist designations could later be challenged in court before being formally implemented.
“All you need is one federal judge – and there are plenty – that are willing to do these nationwide injunctions and basically try to run the country from the bench,” Rubio cautioned. “So we’ve got to be so careful.”
The Muslim Brotherhood was established in Egypt in 1928 and blended its radical Islamist ideology with fascist influences imported from Europe in the 1930s. It embraces antisemitism, hatred against Christians and against moderate Muslims who do not share its extremist ideology. The organization has become a powerful and influential actor in the Middle East and in Western societies, where it has spread its radical ideology by exploiting the free world’s freedom of religion as a cover.
The Muslim Brotherhood is already designated a terrorist organization by Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Russia and Bahrain.
Last month, the Republican senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, John Boozman, Rick Scott, Ashley Moody, and Dave McCormick introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 over its ties to the Hamas terrorist organization in Gaza, which is considered a Muslim Brotherhood offshoot.
“The Muslim Brotherhood is a terrorist organization, and it provides support to Muslim Brotherhood branches that are terrorist organizations. One of those branches is Hamas, which on October 7 committed the worst single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, which included the murder and kidnapping of at least 53 Americans,” Senator Cruz stated.
“They are committed to the overthrow and destruction of America and other non-Islamist governments across the world and pose an acute threat to American national security interests. American allies in the Middle East and Europe have already labeled the Brotherhood a terrorist organization, and the United States should do the same, and do so expeditiously,” he said.
In July, a bi-partisan companion bill was introduced in Congress to officially recognize the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. It was sponsored by Democratic lawmakers Jared Moskowitz, Tom Suozzi, and Josh Gottheimer, along with Republican lawmakers Mario Díaz-Balart, Randy Fine, Chuck Fleischmann, John H. Rutherford, Mike Bost, and Andy Barr.
“The Muslim Brotherhood has a documented history of promoting terrorism against the United States, our allies, and our society,” Moskowitz stated last month.
“Countries such as Bahrain, Egypt, Austria, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and France have already taken important steps to investigate and crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood and its affiliates,” he added.
In April, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan officially outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood after the country reportedly foiled a terror plot by Muslim Brotherhood operatives.
