Trump drives for Muslim Brotherhood to be labelled terrorist organisation

Move has faced opposition from some officials worried about diplomatic impact

Related video: Mr Trump has met with Mr Sisi a number of times (Getty)

The Trump administration is pushing for the Muslim Brotherhood to be designated a foreign terrorist organisation, a move that would put the US at odds with a number of countries across the Middle East.

Donald Trump and White House aides have directed national security officials and diplomats to find a path to placing sanctions on the group after meeting with Egyptian officials earlier this month.

In a statement, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern.”

“This designation is working its way through the internal process,” she added.

However, the move has sparked fierce debate among members of the administration, with key members of Mr Trump’s team having again put themselves at odds with career officials in both the Defence Department and diplomatic circles. Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state, and national security adviser John Bolton are reportedly both behind the move – with both favouring tough action against what they see as threats to America.

But long-standing officials in the Pentagon see a more nuanced situation, with the Brotherhood now more a loose-knit selection of groups with political parties in Tunisia, Kuwait and Jordan all having historic ties to the group. While some parties, such as the Islamic Action Front in Jordan have broken ties with the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the movement as a whole has millions of members across the Middle East.

The decision to push for the designation came after a meeting earlier on 9 April with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to The New York Times.

Mr Trump has sought a close relationship with Mr Sisi, one of a number of autocratic leaders around the world that Mr Trump identifies with. After the meeting, Mr Trump called Mr Sisi a “great president”. A bipartisan group from across congress has recently expressed concerns over Mr Sisi's record on human rights, efforts to keep him in office for many years and planned Russian arms purchases.

The Muslim Brotherhood began in 1928, using violence to push for the end of the British occupation. The movement tuned away from violence in the 1970s. Former general Mr Sisi led a coup in 2013 to oust Egypt’s first democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi – a former leader in the Brotherhood. What followed was a brutal crackdown on Brotherhood supporters, with the Egyptian government designating the group a terrorist organisation.

Mr Sisi is said to have repeatedly pushed the administration of Barack Obama to follow suit, with the White House resisting as it was against administration policy.

Mr Trump appears to have few such concerns, although some career officials have expressed apprehension privately that this marks another decision, after the announcement of a withdrawal of troops from Syria, that Mr Trump appears to have taken following discussions with foreign leaders and without consulting officials.

The Trump administration had weighed up designating both the Muslim Brotherhood and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as terror organisations early in 2017, but faced opposition from Pentagon officials. The IRGC was given the designation this year, with the Brotherhood the next to be assessed.

Some defence officials would prefer for the idea to be dropped, with the diplomatic fallout unknown. For example Turkey’s president Tayyip Recep Erdogan is a key supporter of the Brotherhood. If not, some ideas being looked at include limiting the scope of the sanctions just to Egypt, or terrorist groups with links to the Brotherhood that have not yet been handed a terror designation, according to The New York Times.

But it is unclear what listing the group as a terrorist organisation would mean for US relief groups with ties to the Brotherhood, which is heavily involved with social affairs across the region.