US must sanction or kill Muslim Brotherhood members: Senator Ted Cruz

US Senator Ted Cruz on Wednesday called for the United States to formally designate the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, framing the move as an alternative to directly targeting its members.

“The Muslim Brotherhood and its branches should be designated as terrorist organisations because of that overwhelming and ongoing history of violence, extremism and destabilisation,” Cruz said during a speech at the Heritage Foundation, a far-right think tank in Washington, DC. “That's a straightforward policy when one is faced with a terrorist organisation, or at least it's the other solution to killing the terrorists, which is a damn fine policy as well.”

Cruz, a Texas Republican, has repeatedly sought such a designation. In July, he introduced the Muslim Brotherhood Terrorist Designation Act of 2025, marking his fifth attempt over the past decade. Speaking at Heritage, Cruz argued that the current political climate, with a Republican Congress and president, is the ideal moment to pursue the measure.

“We have a Republican Congress and a Republican president who is committed to countering the threat that Islamic terrorism poses to American national security. So we have both legislative and executive options,” he said. Cruz also emphasized the need for Washington to coordinate with its Arab allies.

The Muslim Brotherhood is already classified as a terrorist group in several countries, including the UAE, Bahrain, Syria, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. While critics argue that blacklisting the movement is largely a political tool to protect regional monarchies and authoritarian governments, Cruz said the Brotherhood remains a threat to US national security due to its political activism and social influence in parts of the Arab world.

Cruz explained that his latest bill takes a “bottom-up” approach, targeting specific branches that actively commit terrorism before designating the larger organization. “One of the reasons why I think we fell short is we took a top-down approach to listing what might be called the ‘Global Brotherhood,’” he said. “The idea was to designate the global organisation, and then all of its branches. Critics objected…because not all branches are currently violent.”

Under his proposal, the US could designate the Brotherhood in three ways: through Congress by amending the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1987, through the State Department as a foreign terrorist organization, or via the Treasury Department as a specially designated global terrorist. “The Brotherhood and its branches, like Hamas, are terrorists, and they should be sanctioned into utter oblivion,” Cruz said.

The discussion at Heritage also touched on Sharia law and its presence in Texas. Cruz pointed to the East Plano Islamic Center’s proposed community development, arguing that “Sharia law has no place in the great state of Texas.”

A young woman in the audience echoed this sentiment, saying, “I think the argument that Sharia law is somehow protected by our constitution is nonsensical.” Cruz responded that while religious liberty is protected under the US Constitution, Sharia law “is all about binding people who don't share [Islamic] belief. It is about controlling others.”