RIYADH, May 14 — President Donald Trump kicked off his trip to the Gulf yesterday with a surprise announcement that the United States will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria.
The end of sanctions on Syria would be a huge boost for a country that has been shattered by more than a decade of civil war. Rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad last December.
Speaking at an investment forum in Riyadh at the start of a deals-focused trip that also brought a flurry of diplomacy, Trump said he was acting on a request to scrap the sanctions by Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
"Oh, what I do for the crown prince," Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience. He said the sanctions had served an important function but that it was now time for the country to move forward.
The move represents a major US policy shift. The US declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, added sanctions in 2004 and imposed further sanctions after the civil war broke out in 2011.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on X that the planned move marked a "new start" in Syria's path to reconstruction. Trump has agreed to briefly greet Sharaa in Saudi Arabia today, a White House official said.
Trump will go on from Riyadh to Qatar today and the United Arab Emirates tomorrow in a trip that is focused on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.
Trump has not scheduled a stop in Israel, raising questions about where the close ally stands in Washington's priorities as Trump presses Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to agree to a new ceasefire deal in the 19-month-old Gaza war.
Trump said it was his "fervent hope" that Saudi Arabia would soon normalise relations with Israel, following other Arab states that did so during his first 2017–2021 term. "But you'll do it in your own time," he said.
Netanyahu's opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress with the Saudis unlikely, sources told Reuters.
— Reuters
