Trump ends all U.S. sanctions on Syria to give ravaged country a ‘chance at greatness’

By NIKKI SCHWAB, CHIEF CAMPAIGN CORRESPONDENT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM IN RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

Published: 17:59 BST, 13 May 2025 | Updated: 18:44 BST, 13 May 2025

President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he would be removing all sanctions from Syria.

‘I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,’ Trump told a crowd gathered in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Trump landed in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Tuesday morning to start his three-country, three and a half day tour of the Middle East. 

He credited Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader when making the announcement at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum. 

‘Oh, what I do for the crown prince,’ Trump said, referencing Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud who had pressed the U.S. president on the sanctions issue. 

‘MBS’ was seated nearby in the audience.  

Earlier, after Daily Mail posed a question to Trump about whether he’d meet with Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa while visiting Saudi Arabia, the White House confirmed that the two leaders would ‘say hello’ Wednesday.

Ahead of the visit, al-Sharaa had floated building a Trump Tower Damascus and allowing the U.S. to have some of Syria’s oil in exchange for sanctions relief. 

President Donald Trump announced at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia that he would end all sanctions on Syria 

Syria’s new President Ahmed al-Sharaa had been wanting to come to Saudi Arabia during President Donald Trump’s trip to the region and press for sanctions relief 

He also said that Syria would back a detente with Israel, Reuters reported. 

The sanctions were in place on the brutal Assad regime, which fell in December. 

The Saudis, and also Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had both pressed Trump on the sanctions issue, the president said onstage Tuesday evening. 

‘Now is their time to shine,’ the president said of Syria, now being led by a former revel leader. 

He received a standing ovation from the audience with the sanctions announcement. 

Additionally Trump announced that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would be meeting with his Syrian counterpart this week in Turkey. 

Also heading to Turkey – but for the Russia-Ukraine peace talks – are Rubio and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg, a White House official said Tuesday night. 

The new Syrian president, al-Sharaa, was born in Riyadh to a Syrian Sunni Muslim before growing up in Damascus. 

During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, he left Syria and joined al-Qaeda in Iraq. 

He remains on a U.S.-designated terror list over his al-Qaeda past. 

In more recent years al-Sharaa renounced jihadism against western nations like the U.S. 

al-Sharaa was a rebel commander during the Syrian civil war and became the country’s de facto ruler in December after the fall of Assad. 

He started serving as the country’s president in January. 

A U.S. and Syrian leader haven’t greeted one another since the year 2000.  

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Trump ends all U.S. sanctions on Syria to give ravaged country a ‘chance at greatness’

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