President Donald Trump announced Tuesday night that he would be removing all sanctions from Syria.
‘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.
Trump landed in Riyadh, the Saudi capital, Tuesday morning to start his three-country, three and a half day tour of the Middle East.
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. 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 issue, the president said onstage at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh.
‘I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,’ Trump told the crowd.
‘Now is their time to shine,’ the president also said.
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.