The Trump administration is planning to designate the Muslim Brotherhood a foreign terrorist organisation, the White House said on Tuesday.
The move will bring sanctions against Egypt's oldest revivalist Islamic movement.
"The president has consulted with his national security team and leaders in the region who share his concern, and this designation is working its way through the internal process," The New York Times quoted White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.
The request was made by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to President Donald Trump during his state visit to the United States.
The group that has been in existence since 1928 is considered as the oldest and most influential Islamic movements in the world. Sisi had declared the Brotherhood as a "terror group."
It came into power in Egypt in 2012 after an election. However a year later, its President Hosni Mubarak was toppled in a military coup by Sisi.
The Times has reported that various heavyweights in the Trump administrations including US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and National security adviser, John Bolton have supported the idea. However, the Pentagon, career national security staff, government lawyers and diplomatic officials are worried about legal and policy objection in designating the group.
Notably, in the past, the US State Department had advised against banning the movement because of its "loose-knit structure and far-flung political ties across the Middle East".
Various Human Rights groups have also voiced their concern, saying Sisi might use this to justify his harsher crackdown on his opponents.
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