The United States (US) has designated several regional chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organisations, expanding sanctions and exposing individuals, charities, and businesses linked to the group to severe legal penalties.

Announcing the move, US authorities said the targeted chapters “engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilisation campaigns that harm their own regions, United States citizens, and United States interests”. The designations cover Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan, and Lebanon, as well as named individuals linked to the Lebanese branch.

The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, presents itself as a religious and social movement, but has long been accused of operating as an ideological gateway into Islamic extremism. While some branches have pursued politics and welfare activity, others have been linked to armed groups and insurgent causes. Several Middle Eastern governments have concluded that the distinction between “political” and “militant” Brotherhood activity is largely artificial.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has described the organisation in stark terms. “The Muslim Brotherhood is very dangerous,” he said, adding that it is “classified in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE (United Arab Emirates) and a lot of countries in the Middle East as a terrorist organisation”.

That regional assessment goes further. UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan warned that failure to confront Islamist radicalisation has wider consequences. “There will come a day when we see far more radicals, extremists, and terrorists coming from Europe because of lack of decision-making, and trying to be politically correct,” he said.

US officials are now echoing that harder line. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Muslim Brotherhood “has a longstanding record of perpetrating acts of terror” and that Washington is “working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system”. Secretary of State Marco Rubio described the designations as “the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort” to deprive Islamist networks of funding and operational space.

The move marks a clear shift in US policy. Rather than treating Brotherhood-linked entities as ordinary political actors, Washington is increasingly aligning with Middle Eastern states that see the organisation as a central node in modern Islamist radicalisation, with consequences that reach well beyond the Middle East.