Washington has designated four Brotherhood chapters under an order that named only three

Executive Order 14362, signed 24 November 2025 and published in the Federal Register on 28 November, set in motion what its text calls a process by which “certain chapters or other subdivisions of the Muslim Brotherhood shall be considered for designation” as Foreign Terrorist Organizations under section 219 of the INA and as specially designated global terrorists under IEEPA and Executive Order 13224. The order’s operative scope is narrow: “Relevant here, its chapters in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt engage in or facilitate and support violence and destabilization campaigns.” Section 3(a) gave the Secretaries of State and Treasury 30 days, after consultation with the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence, to deliver a joint report to the President. The first actions landed 50 days after signature, on 13 January 2026, and they were not uniform.

The 13 January package was two-tier. State designated the Lebanese Muslim Brotherhood as both an FTO and an SDGT, and its leader Muhammad Fawzi Taqqosh as an SDGT; Treasury separately designated the Egyptian and Jordanian chapters as SDGTs only, for providing material support to Hamas. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, posting to X that day, wrote: “Today, we are designating the Lebanese, Egyptian, and Jordanian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist groups.” The Department framed the package as “the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort.” The dates repay attention: the Federal Register determination for the Lebanese chapter is dated 19 December 2025 and went on public inspection on 13 January at 8:45 am — the decision preceded its announcement by roughly 25 days. Its alias list is broad, covering al-Jamaa al-Islamiyah, the Islamic Group in Lebanon and al-Fajr Forces alike.

On 9 March 2026 State designated the Sudanese Muslim Brotherhood as an SDGT and stated its intent to list it as an FTO effective 16 March — a fourth chapter, in a country the executive order never mentioned. State describes the SMB as comprising the Sudanese Islamic Movement and its armed wing, the al-Baraa Bin Malik Brigade, says the group “has contributed upwards of 20,000 fighters to the war in Sudan, many receiving training and other support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” and alleges its fighters “have conducted mass executions of civilians in areas they captured.” The brigade had already been listed under E.O. 14098 in September 2025. Congress would go further still: S.2293 defines a “Muslim Brotherhood branch” to include Hamas and any such organisation in 33 named countries and jurisdictions, among them Qatar, Turkey, the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Canada.

Assessment: The gap between the order and its execution is the story. An instrument justified on three chapters has been used on four, and the two-tier split — FTO for Lebanon and Sudan, asset-blocking SDGT alone for Egypt and Jordan — suggests the evidentiary files are not of equal strength, whatever the uniform language of the press releases. Read the Federal Register dates, not the announcements: decisions were signed weeks before they were staged. And note what S.2293 would do that the executive order does not — extend the net to NATO allies and Gulf partners, which is precisely why it has not moved. The Files could not verify any new action on this file datelined in the past seven days; that is a limit of our reporting, not evidence of a quiet week.