Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

JNS.org – Saudi Arabia has declared Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, the Saudi Interior Ministry declared, Al-Arabiya reported.

The move comes amid a growing dispute in the Gulf as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain recently recalled their ambassadors to Qatar over their support for the Muslim Brotherhood and its influential cleric, Yusuf Qaradawi.

Aside from geopolitical challenges, the Saudi ruling family also considers the Muslim Brotherhood to be a direct competitor to Wahhabism, the ultraconservative Sunni Muslim ideology that is dominant in Saudi Arabia and is espoused by the country’s royal family.

The military-backed Egyptian government declared the Muslim Brotherhood to be a terror group in December. Additionally, the Saudis declared the Syrian jihadist group al-Nusra Front to be a terrorist organization. Saudi officials are concerned that citizens who have joined the terror group in their fight against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad may come home and turn against the government.