The Trump administration is working to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organization, the White House said on Tuesday.
"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in an email, according to Reuters.
The New York Times first reported on Tuesday that the administration was pushing to designate the group, but the idea is not new.
The issue was discussed between Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi and US President Donald Trump when the former visited Washington in April.
He had urged Trump to follow Cairo’s example and blacklist the Brotherhood. The US president was receptive to the proposal. Egypt had outlawed the group in 2014.
White House officials believe that the designation will lead to Americans sanctions against Brotherhood figures that are present throughout the Middle East. The designation will be followed with economic sanctions and a travel ban. Americans will also be barred from dealing with the group’s members.
The blacklisting is advocated by several US officials, most notably Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Adviser John Bolton. Some Defense Department officials are however, opposed to the move.
To meet the legal criteria for the designation, a group must engage in terrorist activity that threatens the security of Americans or the defense, foreign relations or economic interests of the United States.
Jonathan Schanzer, with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank, said some violent branches of the group could be designated, but other members support its extremist political views but not violence.
