The United States on Tuesday designated the Egyptian, Lebanese and Jordanian branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as global terrorists, citing in part what it called their support for the Hamas terror group.

The move, which Washington formally set in motion last November, will bring sanctions against one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements.

The State Department designated the Lebanese branch a foreign terrorist organization, the most severe of the labels, which makes it a criminal offense to provide material support to the group. The Jordanian and Egyptian branches were listed by Treasury as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to Hamas.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilization wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. “The United States will use all available tools to deprive these Muslim Brotherhood chapters of the resources to engage in or support terrorism.”

The designations mean that the United States will block any assets by the Muslim Brotherhood in the world’s largest economy and criminalize transactions with its groups.

The move also severely impedes members’ ability to travel to the United States.

Egypt’s foreign ministry welcomed the move, describing it as a “crucial step that reflects the gravity of the group and its extremist ideology and what it represents as a direct threat of regional and international security and........

© The Times of Israel