A new bill introduced by Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) seeks to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), a move that could financially cripple the global Islamist group.
The "Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025" takes a new "bottom-up" approach to overcome past legislative failures, focusing on the group's violent branches worldwide, according to the Washington Free Beacon.
The legislation, set to be introduced on Tuesday, would direct the Secretary of State to "catalog Muslim Brotherhood branches that are designated as terrorist groups and designate additional ones that meet relevant criteria - and mandates the designation of the global Muslim Brotherhood for its support to those terrorist groups." This method is modeled on the Trump administration's successful 2017 effort to sanction Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Previous attempts to designate the Muslim Brotherhood failed because not all of its branches were considered violent enough to meet the legal criteria. The new bill's approach aims to create a legal framework to designate the Muslim Brotherhood writ large as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by targeting its violent affiliates first.
The bill has garnered support from several GOP senators, according to the Free Beacon, including Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Rick Scott (R-FL). It is also backed by pro-Israel and national security groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Christians United for Israel (CUFI), and FDD Action.
A source familiar with Cruz’s thinking said the bill was "deliberately and extensively workshopped so that it could become law." The goal, the source added, is to get it "passed and implemented."
Once the bill is formally filed, it is expected to gain broad support from majorities in both the House and Senate.
The Muslim Brotherhood has already been designated a terrorist organization by several countries, including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
This label was applied after the group's members secured political positions in Egypt, where the organization was founded, before being toppled by the Egyptian military.
