
Jordan cracks down on Muslim Brotherhood, confiscates assets
Jordan announced on Wednesday it is banning Muslim Brotherhood.
Jordan on Wednesday announced that it would enforce a widespread ban on the activities of the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist group that has been outlawed in several other Arab countries. Jordan banned the Muslim Brotherhood a decade ago but officially licensed a splinter group and continued to tolerate the Islamic Action Front while restricting some of its activities. It was not immediately clear how far the latest ban would go, Al Jazeera reported.
Police surrounded the party's headquarters on Wednesday and were searching it in a pivotal moment for Jordan.
The announcement came a week after Jordanian security services said that they had arrested 16 people accused of plotting threats to national security involving weapons, explosives and plans to manufacture drones and train combatants, both at home and abroad.
The Jordanian interior minister,
Mazin Al Farrayeh
, suggested in a televised news conference on Wednesday that the plot was connected to the group, saying 'elements of the Muslim Brotherhood' had 'worked in darkness to carry out activities that undermine stability and tamper with security and national unity.'
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
Google Brain Co-Founder Andrew Ng, Recommends: Read These 5 Books And Turn Your Life Around
Blinkist: Andrew Ng's Reading List
Undo
He said explosives and weapons had been discovered and added that the night the plot was announced, the Muslim Brotherhood had 'tried to smuggle and destroy a large number of documents.' He also said authorities had discovered an explosives manufacturing operation connected to a son of one of the group's leaders.
What is the Muslim Brotherhood? Which countries have already banned it?
The Muslim Brotherhood is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization that originated in Egypt in 1928, founded by Hassan al-Banna. Its core mission has been to promote a society governed by Islamic principles, including the implementation of Sharia (Islamic law), through social reform, education, and, in some cases, political engagement.
List of countries which have outlawed Muslim Brotherhood
Egypt:
Banned and declared a terrorist organization in 2013 after the ousting of Morsi.
Saudi Arabia:
Banned and designated a terrorist organization in 2014.
United Arab Emirates:
Banned and listed as a terrorist group.
Russia:
Designated as a terrorist organization.
Syria:
Banned since the 1960s; brutal crackdowns occurred in the 1980s.
Bahrain:
Banned, especially after links to political unrest.
Israel:
Banned and viewed as a hostile group.
Austria:
Took steps to ban activities linked to political Islam, including Brotherhood-affiliated groups.
Germany:
Not officially banned, but under surveillance due to concerns about extremism and anti-democratic activities.
Legal or Semi-Tolerated (but monitored):
Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Tunisia have Brotherhood-affiliated parties that participate in politics to varying degrees, although tensions and restrictions exist.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
1979–1983: When Israel was ready to help India denuclearise Pakistan but the plan was called off
In the early 1980s, Israel offered India a plan to bomb Pakistan's fast-developing nuclear site at Kahuta. Motivated by concerns about an 'Islamic bomb' and its implications for West Asia, the proposed operation would have mirrored Israel's 1981 strike on Iraq's Osirak reactor. India came close. Plans were drawn, bases selected, aircraft prepared. But in the end, New Delhi pulled back. That decision, once largely forgotten, is now under fresh political scrutiny. Himanta Biswa Sarma: 'A historic window was squandered' On 15 June 2025, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma reignited a long-dormant strategic debate. Writing on X, he said, 'A historic window to safeguard India's long-term security was squandered, for short-term diplomatic comfort.' He claimed that India had the intelligence and operational readiness in the 1980s to strike the Kahuta nuclear facility . R&AW had confirmed uranium enrichment activity there. Israel had offered support, including operational planning. Military agencies were on board. The launch point: Jamnagar air base in Gujarat. According to Sarma, Indira Gandhi had initially approved the strike. But then she backed out. Her son, Rajiv Gandhi , later shelved it permanently under pressure from global powers. Live Events What Israel offered and why According to Deception: Pakistan, the US, and the Global Weapons Conspiracy by Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark, Israel saw Pakistan's nuclear progress as an existential threat — not just to India, but to the entire Middle East. In 1979, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin even wrote to UK PM Margaret Thatcher to warn of Pakistan's ties with Libya's Colonel Gaddafi. He feared Pakistan could pass nuclear weapons to Libya. Israel, still fresh off its own successful bombing of Iraq's Osirak reactor in 1981, suggested a similar strike on Kahuta. The plan involved Israeli F-16s and F-15s flying into Indian airspace. They would refuel at Jamnagar and Udhampur, while Indian Jaguar deep-strike aircraft would assist the mission. Why the plan was shelved Though Indira Gandhi reportedly gave initial approval, the strike never materialised. A combination of domestic unrest, geopolitical risks, and American pressure weighed in. India in the 1980s was boiling. Punjab was in ferment with the Bhindranwale insurgency. Kashmir was simmering after the execution of JKLF co-founder Maqbool Bhat. The aftermath of the Emergency still hung over Delhi. And in the background, India and Pakistan were edging toward confrontation in Siachen. A strike on Kahuta could have triggered an all-out war. India, unlike Israel, would be in direct range of Pakistani retaliation. And the fallout — nuclear or diplomatic — would land on Indian soil. There were international risks too. The CIA reportedly tipped off Pakistan, prompting Islamabad to issue veiled threats of retaliation using newly acquired F-16s from the US. Washington, keen to use Pakistan to arm Afghan mujahideen against Soviet forces, was in no mood to entertain an Indian-Israeli strike. Then came the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984. Her son, Rajiv, took over and prioritised diplomacy. The Kahuta plan was buried for good. The fallout and what came next By the late 1980s, Pakistan had made significant strides in developing nuclear weapons. The mastermind behind the programme was A.Q. Khan, who had stolen uranium enrichment designs from a Dutch facility. With help from countries like China and North Korea, Pakistan's bomb was becoming a reality. In 1988, Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistani PM Benazir Bhutto signed an agreement prohibiting attacks on each other's nuclear facilities. Since then, the two countries exchange lists of nuclear installations every year on 1 January. But the nuclear story didn't end there. In 1998, just weeks after India's Pokhran-II tests, Pakistan responded with five nuclear tests of its own. The world changed overnight. Nuclear deterrence and its costs Since Chagai-I in 1998, Pakistan's nuclear weapons have cast a long shadow over India's strategic calculus. During the 1999 Kargil War, it limited India's response. In later years, Pakistan's arsenal emboldened its use of proxy terror — from the 2001 Parliament attack to the 2008 Mumbai carnage. India, in response, has adopted a doctrine of surgical strikes and air raids — such as the 2016 Uri operation and 2019 Balakot strike. But each move remains calculated, always weighed against the risk of nuclear escalation. It's this cautious dance that Sarma pointed to when he referred to Pakistan's 'nuclear blackmail.' In his words, India's 'tragic inaction during the 1980s remains a cautionary tale of what could have been — and what wasn't.' Israel's fears didn't start in 1998 Pakistan's nuclear ambitions had long worried Israel. In May 1979, Menachem Begin wrote to Margaret Thatcher, raising the alarm about Zia-ul-Haq's nuclear drive and Pakistan's deep ties with Libya. Begin warned: 'What could happen in the Middle East, and particularly to the men, women and children in Israel should the lethal weapons of mass killing and destruction fall at any time into the hands of an absolute ruler like Colonel Qaddafi.' By 1998, Israeli officials even issued private reassurances to Pakistani diplomats after Islamabad raised fears of a pre-emptive Israeli strike. Israel, under Benjamin Netanyahu, denied any such plan existed. India had a narrow window in the early 1980s to act decisively. It chose restraint. Whether that was prudence or a missed opportunity continues to divide opinion. What remains, however, is a precedent. In 1988, India and Pakistan found a way to at least protect each other's nuclear sites, a rare diplomatic success. But nuclear weapons, once introduced, have changed the logic of war in South Asia. And decades later, that ghost of Kahuta — the raid that never was — still haunts India's strategic thinking.


Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Netanyahu says regime change in Iran could be result of Israel's attacks
Regime change in Iran could be a result of Israel's military attacks on the country, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News on Sunday, saying Israel would do whatever is necessary to remove the "existential threat" posed by Tehran. Israel launched " Operation Rising Lion " with a surprise attack on Friday morning that wiped out the top echelon of Iran's military command and damaged its nuclear sites, and says the campaign will continue to escalate in coming days. Iran has vowed to "open the gates of hell" in retaliation. Israel's military has said the current goal of the campaign is not a change in regime, but the dismantling of Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programs. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Stop Watching Others Hike—OrthoMotion Might Be the Reason You Can Join Them showbizinsider Undo Asked by Fox's Bret Baier on his "Special Report" program if regime change was part of Israel's military effort, Netanyahu said: "Could certainly be the result because the Iran regime is very weak." "We're geared to do whatever is necessary to achieve our dual aim, to remove ... two existential threats - the nuclear threat and the ballistic missile threat," Netanyahu said in one of his first interviews since Israel's attacks began. Live Events "We did act - to save ourselves, but also, I think, to not only protect ourselves, but protect the world from this incendiary regime. We can't have the world's most dangerous regime have the world's most dangerous weapons," he said. Israel has said its operation could last weeks, and Netanyahu has openly urged the Iranian people to rise up against their Islamic clerical rulers. Israel and Iran launched fresh attacks on each other overnight into Sunday, killing scores and raising fears of a wider conflict, as U.S. President Donald Trump said it could be ended easily while warning Tehran not to strike any U.S. targets. Asked about a Reuters report that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Netanyahu said: "I'm not going to get into that." But he said he had informed Trump ahead of Friday's military action. American pilots are shooting down Iranian drones headed toward Israel, he said. With worries growing of a regional conflagration, Trump has lauded Israel's offensive while denying Iranian allegations that the U.S. has taken part in it. He warned Tehran not to widen its retaliation to include U.S. targets or else face the "full strength and might" of the U.S. armed forces. Trump has repeatedly said Iran could end the war by agreeing to tough restrictions on its nuclear program, which Iran says is for peaceful purposes but Western countries say could be used to make a bomb. The latest round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, due to be held on Sunday, was scrapped after Tehran said it would not negotiate while under Israeli attack.
&w=3840&q=100)

First Post
3 hours ago
- First Post
Trump walking back on 'America First'? Says possible to get US involved in Iran-Israel conflict
'It's possible we could get involved' in the ongoing battle between the West Asia arch-foes, Trump said in an off-camera interview with ABC News. read more President Donald Trump told a news network Sunday the United States could become involved in the Iran-Israel conflict, and that he would be 'open' to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin being a mediator. The Republican president, according to ABC News, also said talks over Iran's nuclear program were continuing and that Tehran would 'like to make a deal,' perhaps more quickly now that the Islamic republic is trading massive strikes with Israel. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'It's possible we could get involved' in the ongoing battle between the West Asia arch-foes, Trump said in an off-camera interview with ABC News senior political correspondent Rachel Scott that was not previously publicised. He stressed that the United States is 'not at this moment' involved in the military action. As for Putin being a potential mediator in the conflict, 'he is ready. He called me about it. We had a long talk about it,' Trump said. Israel and Iran traded heavy aerial assaults for a third straight day Sunday, with casualties mounting following Israel's large-scale attacks aimed at crippling Iran's nuclear and military infrastructure, sparking retaliation. Oman, which has acted as a mediator on the nuclear issue, has said a sixth round of talks between Iran and the United States planned for this weekend had been cancelled. But Trump said the two sides were continuing discussions. 'No, there's no deadline' on negotiations, he told ABC when asked whether there was a time limit for Tehran to come to the table. 'But they are talking. They'd like to make a deal. They're talking. They continue to talk,' Trump said, according to Scott. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Trump suggested that something like the clash between Israel and Iran 'had' to happen to spur talks on a nuclear agreement. It 'may have forced a deal to go quicker, actually,' Trump said.