![US President Donald Trump speaks during the Saudi-US investment forum at the King Abdul Aziz International Conference Center in Riyadh on May 13, 2025. [Photo by FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP via Getty Images]](https://i0.wp.com/www.middleeastmonitor.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/GettyImages-2214294743-1.jpg?fit=920%2C614&ssl=1)
US President Donald Trump said Tuesday he will order the removal of “brutal and crippling” US sanctions on Syria after consultations with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other regional leaders, Anadolu reports.
“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, among others, and friends of mine, people that I have a lot of respect for in the Middle East, I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said in Riyadh as he addressed an investment forum.
He was referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who was in attendance.
“But now it’s their time to shine. It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off,” Trump said of Syria. “So, I say, ‘Good luck Syria. Show us something very special, like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia.’”
READ: Saudi crown prince says deals worth over $300bn signed with US during Trump’s visit to kingdom
The confirmation of the move comes one day after Trump acknowledged he was considering removing US sanctions on Syria. His determination is the latest to come from Western leaders as they seek to lift economic penalties imposed on Damascus during the rule of the since-ousted Assad regime.
French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that the EU would gradually lift sanctions on Syria as he hosted Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Paris.
A White House official earlier confirmed that Trump will meet al-Sharaa on Wednesday as he continues his trip in Saudi Arabia. Additional details on the meeting were not immediately available.
Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani in Turkiye “later this week.”
Bashar al-Assad, who ruled Syria for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on Dec. 8, marking the end of the Baath Party’s rule that began in 1963.
READ: Saudi crown prince discusses Syria’s security, stability with Sharaa
Unless otherwise stated in the article above, this work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. If the image(s) bear our credit, this license also applies to them. What does that mean? For other permissions, please contact us.
