Riyadh, MINA – US President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he will order the complete removal of all US sanctions on Syria, describing them as “brutal and crippling.”
The declaration came during his address at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh, following consultations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Middle East Monitor reported.
“After discussing the situation in Syria with the crown prince, your crown prince, and also with President Erdogan of Turkey, who called me the other day and asked for a very similar thing… I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said.
He emphasized Syria’s opportunity to “shine,” drawing comparisons to Saudi Arabia’s recent economic reforms. “So, I say, ‘Good luck Syria. Show us something very special, like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
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The move follows Trump’s earlier comments indicating he was considering the sanctions’ removal. The decision also aligns with a broader trend among Western nations easing their policies toward Damascus.
Last week, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the EU’s gradual lifting of sanctions while hosting Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Paris.
A White House official confirmed that Trump is scheduled to meet al-Sharaa on Wednesday during his visit to Saudi Arabia. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Turkiye later this week.
The changes come in the wake of the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime. Assad fled to Russia in December 2024, ending nearly 25 years of his rule and bringing a close to the Baath Party’s dominance that began in 1963. []
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Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)
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