Trump says U.S. will remove all sanctions on Syria

The U.S. will remove all sanctions on Syria, President Donald Trump announced Tuesday.

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told a packed auditorium at the U.S.-Saudi Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the first appearance of his four-day visit to the Middle East

“In Syria, which has seen so much misery and death, there is a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace. That’s what we want to see,” he said in a wide-ranging speech that focused on his own time in office and U.S. relations with the Middle East.

“In Syria, they’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing many years. That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade,” Trump said.

Syria has been designated a state sponsor of terrorism by the U.S. government since 1979. Additional U.S. sanctions were imposed on the country in 2004 and again in 2011, after the regime of then-President Bashar Assad launched a brutal crackdown on anti-government uprisings.

In the roughly 14 years since, the country has been devastated by civil war, sectarian violence and brutal terrorists attacks, including the Islamic State takeover of parts of the country in 2014 and subsequent Western-led bombing campaign to eradicate the extremist group.

The toppling of the Assad regime during a shock offensive by anti-Assad militia groups in December of 2024 stunned the global community, and brought about the prospect of a new beginning for the devastated country. Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa — a former al-Qaeda member who describes himself as reformed — currently leads the country’s transitional government.

Syria remained under myriad international sanctions but those imposed by the U.S. were the most severe, as they applied to third parties as well, deterring other countries and groups from transacting with the country.

The United Nations and aid organizations like the International Committee for the Red Cross, as well as the Arab League and other NGOs, pushed for sanctions relief following the devastating 2023 earthquake that hit Syria and neighboring Turkey. In addition to throttling the potential for economic progress, the sanctions hindered the ability of aid agencies and governments to provide rapid humanitarian assistance, those organizations said.

In recent years more Arab countries began calling for efforts to re-integrate Syria in to the Arab fold. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan, during the last few years of the Assad regime, advocated for Syria’s return to the Arab League and argued for engaging Damascus diplomatically.

Saudi Arabia, while more cautious, also advocated for re-engagement, and Trump said in his speech that his decision to lift sanctions was at the request of Saudi Crown Prince and de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman.

“The lifting of sanctions is the single biggest moment for Syria since the start of the conflict in 2011,” Kamal Alam, an advisor for a Damascus family office investing in Syria with Gulf partners, told CNBC.

“The removal of sanctions on Syria is a Saudi project that MbS actually began even during Assad’s time,” Alam said, referring to the crown prince by his initials. “However, it is the new government that will reap the benefit of the Trump-Mbs relationship. Trump made it a point to say it was thanks to MbS and also to [Turkish President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan that he decided to remove sanctions.”

The sanctions on Syria were “brutal and crippling,” Trump said in his speech, suggesting that they no longer served an important function. “Now, it’s their time to shine,” he said of the country. “We’re taking them all off.”

“So I say, Good luck Syria. Show us something very special, like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia.”