Jordan

WASHINGTON — President Trump’s administration has made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for U.S. relationships with allies in the region.

The Treasury and State departments announced the actions Tuesday against the Lebanese, Jordanian and Egyptian chapters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which they said pose a risk to the United States and American interests.

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 the Treasury Department as specially designated global terrorists for providing support to militant group 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.”

Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent were mandated last year under an executive order signed by Trump to determine the most appropriate way to impose sanctions on the groups, which U.S. officials say engage in or support violence and destabilization campaigns that harm the United States and other regions.

Bessent said in a post on X that the Muslim Brotherhood “has a longstanding record of perpetrating acts of terror, and we are working aggressively to cut them off from the financial system.” He added that the Trump administration will “deploy the full scope of its authorities to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat terrorist networks wherever they operate in order to keep Americans safe.”

Muslim Brotherhood leaders have said they renounce violence, and the Muslim Brotherhood branches in Egypt and Lebanon denounced their inclusion.

“The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood categorically rejects this designation and will pursue all legal avenues to challenge this decision which harms millions of Muslims worldwide,” it said in a statement, denying any involvement in or support for terrorism.

The Lebanese branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, known as Al Jamaa al Islamiya (the Islamic Group), said in a statement that it is “a licensed Lebanese political and social entity that operates openly and within the bounds of the law” and that the U.S. decision “has no legal effect within Lebanon.”

In singling out the chapters in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, Trump’s executive order noted that a wing of the Lebanese chapter had launched rockets on Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack in Israel that set off the war in Gaza. Leaders of the group in Jordan also have provided support to Hamas, the order said.

The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 but was banned in that country in 2013. Jordan announced a sweeping ban on the Muslim Brotherhood in April.

Egypt on Tuesday welcomed the designation and praised Trump’s efforts to combat global terrorism.

“This is a significant step that reflects the extremist ideology of this group and the direct threat it represents for regional and international security and stability,” the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Nathan Brown, a professor of political science and international affairs at George Washington University, said other allies of the U.S., including the United Arab Emirates, would likely be pleased with the designation.

“For other governments where the brotherhood is tolerated, it would be a thorn in bilateral relations,” including in Qatar and Turkey, he said. While the Turkish ruling party has been associated with members of the Muslim Brotherhood in the past, the government of Qatar has denied any relationship with it.

Brown also said a designation on the chapters may have effects on visa and asylum claims for people entering not just the U.S. but also Western European countries and Canada.

“I think this would give immigration officials a stronger basis for suspicion, and it might make courts less likely to question any kind of official action against Brotherhood members who are seeking to stay in this country, seeking political asylum,” he said.

Trump, a Republican, weighed whether to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organization in 2019 during his first term in office. Some prominent Trump supporters, including right-wing influencer Laura Loomer, have pushed his administration to take aggressive action against the group.

Two Republican-led state governments — Florida and Texas — designated the group as a terrorist organization this year.

Hussein and Lee write for the Associated Press. Fatma Khaled in Cairo contributed to this report.

The United States has designated Muslim Brotherhood organisations in Egypt, Lebanon and Jordan as “terrorist” groups, the Associated Press news agency reports, as Washington intensifies its crackdown on Israel’s rivals across the world.

The decision on Tuesday came weeks after President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing his administration to start the process of blacklisting the groups.

“These designations reflect the opening actions of an ongoing, sustained effort to thwart Muslim Brotherhood chapters’ violence and destabilisation wherever it occurs,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, according to AP.

“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 make it illegal to provide material support to the groups. They also largely ban their current and former members from entering the US and impose economic sanctions to choke their revenue streams.

Established in 1928 by Egyptian Muslim scholar Hassan al-Banna, the Muslim Brotherhood has offshoots and branches across the Middle East, including political parties and social organisations.

More to come…

Her jitters came and went during the first meet of her college career. Now, it’s time for UCLA freshman Nola Matthews to focus on her training and routines.

“How I practice is the standard that I want,” Matthews said, “so now, I just need to implement that into competition.”

The UCLA women’s gymnastics team sent four freshmen (Matthews, Tiana Sumanasekera, Ashlee Sullivan and Jordis Eichman) to the floor during their meet against Washington, California and Oregon State on Saturday.

After earning three wins during the competition in Washington, the Bruins swept the Big Ten Conference weekly awards, including freshman of the week award for Sumanasekera after she placed second on the balance beam and the floor exercise.

“They have so much experience just through their time with being elite athletes and things like that,” coach Janelle McDonald said about her freshman class. “I think it really is going to bode well for them for their longevity and their NCAA career.”

“I’m excited to see them continue to grow throughout the season and really on what they’re capable of doing out on the competition floor,” she added.

The win made the Bruins the No. 1 team in the country, a distinction they say they are not going to worry about. Instead, they’ll just concentrate on themselves.

“We’re only going to be focused on what we’re doing, staying in that bubble, staying together, staying as one team,” Matthews said.

Leadership

When they first hit the floor, McDonald noticed nerves from the freshmen. Their execution wasn’t perfect and they performed a bit too tight. Since it was their first meet, their coach expected it, but what impressed her the most was their adjustments.

“We’re going to have so many things throughout the year thrown at us and really being resilient through those moments and just really being able to turn the page and focus on what’s next is just so crucial to being a successful team,” McDonald said.

The grit they showed was supported by the leadership the newcomers got from Jordan Chiles and the rest of the returning members.

“I just thought Jordan did that phenomenally and our returners did as well,” McDonald said. “Those were the things that I took away that I was really excited about.”

“They’ve really taken all of us under their wing, and they’ve been there for us, especially when we’re having bad days,” Matthews added.

The noise of a No. 1 ranking

McDonald understands that the leadership skills her returning team members bring to competition is the key to success for the Bruins this season. In order for UCLA to maintain its No. 1 ranking it needs to worry about what it can control and not the noise from outside.

“We’re really focusing on what we can do to continue to improve and get better in our gymnastics and our connection with each other and how we show up for each other as we head into this next meet,” she said. “You can’t always control your scores, you can’t always control your ranking, but you can always control how you show up in each moment and how you prepare for those opportunities.”

Their next meet will be against Oklahoma, Utah and Louisiana State on Saturday on ABC at 1 p.m. PST. The lights will be bright, a target will be on their back as the best program in the country, but they will tune out the noise by focusing on their work.

“We all just have to keep our heads down, keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Matthews said. “We’ve been working so hard this preseason and I feel like we’re in a really good spot.”

Two-time All-American wide receiver and prominent Outdoors Channel host Jordan Shipley is in critical condition after an accident on his ranch in Texas, his family said in a statement.

Shipley, 40, was described as stable after remaining hospitalized Tuesday night in Austin. The statement said a machine that he was operating near his hometown of Burnet caught fire. The former Texas great suffered “severe burns on his body.”

Shipley abruptly retired in 2012 after three NFL seasons primarily because of persistent concussion issues and chronic knee problems. He quickly transitioned to television shows that showcased his passion for deer hunting, co-hosting “The Bucks of Tecomate” and “Tecomate Whitetail Nation.”

“It was not hard at all,” Shipley said at the time of retiring at 27. “Only because I never saw myself as a football player first. Don’t get me wrong, I worked my tail off for football and I loved it but never saw that as my whole identity because I had such a big background in outdoors. Really, with this opportunity I had I was actually pretty excited about moving forward.”

Although he enjoyed a strong rookie season with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2010 with 52 receptions for 600 yards and three touchdowns, he is best remembered as a record-setting player at Texas.

Shipley starred as a receiver and a kick returner from 2006 to 2009, setting program single-season records in 2009 with 116 receptions and 1,489 yards. He also remains the career leader for receptions with 248 and ranks second in career receiving yards with 3,191, behind Roy Williams. Shipley also returned four punts or kickoffs for touchdowns.

After being drafted in the third round by the Bengals, he became one of the most popular players with Cincinnati fans, and his No. 11 jersey was worn by thousands. After a debilitating knee injury early in the 2011 season, he was never the same player, and he had short stints with Tampa Bay and Jacksonville before retiring.

According to his family, Jordan was operating a machine at his ranch when it caught fire. He managed to free himself from the machine, but “not before sustaining severe burns on his body in the process.” Jordan was airlifted to the hospital in Austin.

“He was able to get to one of his workers on the ranch, who drove him to a local hospital. He was then care-flighted to Austin, where he remains in critical but stable condition,” the statement said.

Shipley’s younger brother, former Texas wide receiver Jaxon Shipley, 33, asked for prayers in a statement on Instagram: “Please pray for full healing and no infections or other issues on his road to recovery. I don’t want to get into all the details, other than his life was spared today by the grace of God and the sheer will to live. I believe prayer is effective so I’m asking anyone and everyone to lift Jordan up in prayer.”

Jordan’s military said the attacks ‘neutralised arms and drug traffickers’ and destroyed their laboratories and factories.

Jordan’s military has launched strikes on drug and weapons smugglers in the country’s northern border regions with Syria, targeting sites used as “launch points” by trafficking groups into Jordanian territory, according to reports.

The Jordan News Agency, Petra, said the strikes on Wednesday “neutralised a number of arms and drug traffickers who organise weapons and narcotics smuggling operations along the northern border of the Kingdom”.

Jordan’s armed forces destroyed “factories and workshops” used by the trafficking groups, Petra reports, adding that the attacks were carried out based on “precise intelligence” and in coordination with regional partners.

The Jordanian military did not name the partner countries involved in the strikes but warned that it would “continue to counter any threats with force at the appropriate time and place”, Petra said.

Syrian state broadcaster Al-Ikhbariah TV reported on its Telegram channel that the Jordanian army had carried out air strikes on locations in the southern and eastern countryside of Syria’s Suwayda governorate.

A resident of Syria’s Suwayda border region told the AFP news agency that the bombardment “was extremely intense and targeted farms and smuggling routes”, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jets and helicopters had reportedly taken part in the raid.

The observatory said photos taken at the scene of the attacks showed destruction at an abandoned military barracks of the former al-Assad regime in Suwayda.

There were no initial reports of casualties from the Jordanian attacks and no official comment from authorities in Damascus.

A farm believed to have been used for storing drugs was among the targets, according to the Zaman Al Wasl online news site, which also reported that similar Jordanian attacks had been carried out previously in a bid to stem the flow of captagon – an addictive, amphetamine-type stimulant.

Before the removal of Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, captagon had become the regime’s largest export and key source of funding amid the country’s years of grinding civil war.

Produced in vast quantities in Syria, the synthetic drug flooded the region, particularly the Gulf states, prompting neighbouring countries to announce seizures and call on both Lebanon and Damascus to ramp up efforts to combat the trade.

Although Damascus denied any involvement in the drug trade, analysts estimated that production and smuggling of captagon brought in billions of dollars for al-Assad, his associates and allies as they looked for an economic lifeline amid the civil war, which was fought between 2011 and the regime’s toppling last year.

Morocco beat Jordan 3-2 as a strike from inside his own half by Oussama Tannane set the tone for a spectacular final.

Oussama Tannane’s wonder goal from inside his own half set Morocco on their way to their second FIFA Arab Cup title with a 3-2 win after extra time in the final against Jordan at the Qatar-hosted event.

A full house at Lusail Stadium in Doha on Thursday was quickly on their feet in the fourth minute when Qatar-based footballer Tannane drilled an effort from well over the halfway line – estimated at 59 metres – to catch out goalkeeper Yazeed Abulaila.

The Jordan keeper desperately scrambled back to his line in an attempt to stop the shot and collided with the post, resulting in a lengthy four-minute stoppage before he was cleared to continue and play resumed.

It was only the start of a turbulent final that saw Jordan come back to claim the lead, for the match to be sent to extra time, with Jordanian hearts broken seconds away from their first FIFA Arab Cup title in normal time.

Jordan, who were defeated finalists at the 2025 AFC Asian Cup, pulled level on the night three minutes into the second period when Ali Oliwan pulled away from his marker to head home from close range after a well-worked corner.

Jordan then took the lead for the first time after Mahmoud Almardi’s shot hit the raised hand of Achraf El Mahdioui inside the box, allowing Oliwan to convert from the penalty spot for his second in the 68th minute.

The drama was far from over, however, as second-half substitute Abderrazak Hamdallah levelled in the 88th minute – tapping in on the goal line after a scramble from a corner.

It was Oliwan, though, who had the chance of glory with virtually the final kick of normal time when – put clean through on goal – he was unable to beat the keeper to seal the final for Jordan with what would also have been his hat-trick.

Where many may not have taken their seats for Tannane’s opener, the same may have been the case for the start of extra time as Mohannad Abutaha volleyed a spectacular left-footed effort into the top right corner from the left edge of the box.

Like Tannane’s, it was a strike worthy of winning any final, but VAR ruled out the goal for a controversial handball as the Jordanian controlled the ball before unleashing the effort.

Worse was to follow when Hamdallah tapped in his second time – and the winning goal – after Marwane Saadane’s bicycle kick from a set piece fell kindly into his path from close range.

Morocco previously lifted the Arab Cup in 2012, defeating Libya in the final staged in Saudi Arabia. The Atlas Lions succeed Algeria, who defeated their North African neighbours Tunisia in the final four years ago.

Earlier, Morocco dominated the first period and Tannane, who plays his club football for Umm Salal in the Qatar league, had a glorious opportunity to double the lead on the stroke of half time when Abulaila spilled a cross into his path, but the forward failed to make a clean connection with his left-footed follow up and Issam Smeir slid to clear off the line.

The Jordanian stopper had to be on his feet throughout the first period and produced his best save in the 17th minute when Karim El Berkaoui, after exchanging a one-two with Tannane, drove across the face of goal from the edge of the box, but Abulaila was equal to it, low to his right, to push the effort wide.

Morocco, the first African nation to reach a World Cup semifinal when they achieved the feat at Qatar 2022, will now turn their attention to hosting the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, where the squad will be further boosted by a number of their European-based stars who had to prioritise club over country during the Arab Cup.

The FIFA Arab Cup sold more than a million tickets for the 2025 event, doubling what was sold at the previous competition four years ago.