The Trump administration is in the stages of officially designating the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group, announced White House press secretary Sarah Sanders on Tuesday.
Sanders confirmed a New York Times report citing officials familiar with the matter, that the United States was in the process of making the designation, which would enact “wide-ranging economic and travel sanctions” on anyone doing business with the organization.
Visiting the White House earlier this month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi asked U.S. President Donald Trump to make the move, which the president “responded affirmatively,” saying “it would make sense.”
The Brotherhood is a Sunni Islamist group that was founded in Egypt in 1928 and has ties to other radical groups, including Hamas. It is Egypt’s oldest Islamist organization with branches worldwide.
In 2012, Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi won the Egyptian elections only to be ousted in the coup by El-Sisi a year later.
Russia, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and the United Arab Emirates consider the Brotherhood as a terrorist group.
