US President Donald Trump’s warnings about the Muslim Brotherhood could strengthen Egypt’s efforts to restrict the group’s activities at home and abroad, researchers told Asharq Al-Awsat, following a series of Egyptian and Western measures targeting its networks.
Speaking to Salem News Channel on Thursday, Trump said the Brotherhood posed risks extending to the United States and Europe. Asked whether it or communists were more dangerous, he described both as major threats but suggested the Brotherhood currently posed the greater danger.
Mounir Adib, a researcher specializing in extremist movements and international terrorism, said Trump’s remarks reflected growing Western awareness of transnational networks.
Their significance lay in their timing, as Washington increasingly moved beyond warnings toward legal and financial measures against specific Brotherhood branches, he added.
Adib said the shift reinforced Egypt’s longstanding position that the organization uses institutions and affiliated entities to advance its political objectives.
Hesham al-Naggar, a researcher specializing in jihadist groups, described Trump’s comments as recognition of Egypt’s approach since 2013, although he considered Western measures insufficient.
He said Cairo’s initial efforts to dismantle the Brotherhood domestically and pursue its overseas networks encountered Western resistance, partly because of earlier expectations surrounding political Islam.
Attitudes have since shifted, including among some left-wing intellectuals, he noted.
On November 24, 2025, Trump signed an executive order directing the State and Treasury departments to consider terrorist designations for Brotherhood branches in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon.
In January, Washington designated the Egyptian and Jordanian branches as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, while the Lebanese branch was also designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
The Sudanese Brotherhood received terrorist designations in March.
In May, the Trump administration outlined a counterterrorism strategy focusing on the Brotherhood as what it described as an ideological source of modern jihadist terrorism.
Argentina also designated the Egyptian, Jordanian and Lebanese branches earlier this year, while the European Parliament approved an October 8 resolution calling for a common EU strategy against Brotherhood networks.
Adib said these developments strengthened Cairo’s case for targeting financing channels and overseas operations, but stressed that international cooperation should rely on intelligence, evidence and legal procedures rather than political labels alone.
Al-Naggar said even limited Western measures would reinforce Egypt’s efforts.
Trump’s remarks followed Egypt’s decision to place the Brotherhood permanently on its terrorism list under a final court ruling published in the Official Gazette on Monday, after years of temporary designations.
Several Brotherhood leaders, including Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie, remain imprisoned in cases involving violence, terrorism and murder.
The following day, a Cairo criminal court issued a first-instance ruling placing 35 entities and 36 individuals based in Europe on Egypt’s terrorism lists for five years.
Adib said the next phase could bring closer US-European cooperation in intelligence sharing, monitoring financial flows and reviewing organizations linked to prohibited activities.
Al-Naggar called for a broader international response, including stronger security and intelligence cooperation, arguing that the issue extended beyond the Arab region to global security and stability.
