US president Donald Trump said today he will lift all US sanctions on Syria, a move that will allow the new government in Damascus to access global oil markets and banking systems and to advance energy projects.
"I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness," Trump said in Riyadh, while addressing a US-Saudi business forum.
Trump said he was ordering the sanctions relief at the urging of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. US secretary of state Marco Rubio will meet his Syrian counterpart in Turkey later this week, Trump said.
The White House did not confirm whether Trump plans to meet with Syria's new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, during his visit to the Mideast Gulf this week.
Former president Joe Biden's administration in January issued a sanctions waiver through 7 July to enable previously prohibited energy trade with Syria. The EU in February suspended a range of sanctions against Syria, including restrictions related to the energy, banking, transport and reconstruction sectors.
A permanent relief of US sanctions would require Trump to remove Syria's previous designation as a "state sponsor of terrorism". Al-Sharaa's group, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, is separately classified by the US as a "foreign terrorist organization". The US also has imposed a series of sanctions against Syria by statute, rather than executive action, which Trump would have to waive.
Before Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's fall from power in December, the country relied heavily on Iran for crude and product supplies.
Syria issued its first tenders to buy crude and refined products in January, but it attracted limited interest. The country then received cargoes of Russian crude and diesel in March-April, including some cargoes delivered aboard tankers that are under US sanctions.
