This strategy focuses on targeting the Brotherhood’s various local branches rather than its “vague global structure,” whose “nebulous nature” makes legal prosecution extremely complex. The goal is to “create a legal framework to designate the entire Muslim Brotherhood [as a terrorist organization] by relying on the terrorist activities of its most radical affiliates.”

To this end, Republican Senator Ted Cruz introduced a bill in Congress on July 15 aiming to officially list the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization in the United States. According to a source close to Senator Cruz, the bill was “meticulously prepared to maximize its chances of success.” Based on the aforementioned “bottom-up strategy,” the bill — titled the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025 — seeks to “first target the Brotherhood’s violent branches across the world,” with the aim of overcoming the obstacles that thwarted earlier attempts.

Indeed, in early 2017, Donald Trump had announced his intention to ban the International Organization of the Muslim Brotherhood (IOMB). Immediately, the Brotherhood’s various branches around the world met in Istanbul and, at the end of the meeting, declared that they had severed all ties with the IOMB. As a result, the ban project was dropped, as it had lost relevance — the IOMB’s leadership bodies are secretive and have no legal status in any country, unlike its local and regional offshoots.