The White House has confirmed that the potential designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization is currently being discussed by the U.S. National Security Council, reflecting intensifying political debate in Washington over the group’s role.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Donald Trump’s administration may support a bill introduced earlier this month by Republican Senator Ted Cruz that calls for the designation.
Speaking to U.S. media, Leavitt stated:
“Labeling the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization is a direction this administration could support,”
but she stopped short of confirming Trump’s personal stance, saying she has not yet discussed the issue with him and would not pre-empt the National Security Council’s deliberations on official classifications.
The move comes amid growing pressure in Congress to expand legislation targeting Islamist political groups. Cruz has argued that the Muslim Brotherhood poses a serious threat to U.S. national security and provides support to affiliated organizations, including Hamas.
The proposed bill would grant the State Department new authority to designate Brotherhood-linked groups as terrorist organizations and require a comprehensive list of such entities to be compiled within a set time frame after the law’s enactment.
The initiative has already gained backing from several Republican senators and influential organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), which argue that the Brotherhood provides ideological and financial support to terrorist groups hostile to U.S. allies and interests in the Middle East.
If passed, the bill outlines three legal pathways to formally classify the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization:
- Congressional action under the 1987 Anti-Terrorism Act,
- A formal designation by the U.S. State Department as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO),
- Placement on the global terrorism list, which would result in freezing Brotherhood assets in the U.S. and prohibiting Americans from providing financial or other material support.
This proposal marks one of the strongest efforts yet by U.S. lawmakers to target the Muslim Brotherhood through legal means.
