US President Donald Trump has met Syria’s interim President Ahmad Al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia and said that Washington is exploring normalizing ties with Syria, a day after an announcement that all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted.
The US president met Sharaa, a former militant known as Al-Joulani who fought in the ranks of Hayaat Tahrir Al-Sham, before a conference of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), part of Trump’s four-day visit to the Middle East, where he is expected to court Gulf allies for investments in the US. Trump is due to land in Doha next, where he will meet the Qatari leader, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani.
Pictures showed the Saudi crown prince, Mohammad Bin Salman, sitting in the room as Trump and Sharaa met in Riyadh, flanked by the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and the Syrian foreign minister, Asaad Al-Shaibani. The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, joined the meeting by telephone, according to the Turkish Anadolu news agency.
⚡️From the meeting between Sharaa and US President Trump, in the presence of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. pic.twitter.com/dkrupRucu2
— War Monitor (@WarMonitors) May 14, 2025
“With the support of the great leaders in this room, we are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump said, confirming his brief meeting with Sharaa.
The “cessation of sanctions” will give Syria “a fresh start”, Trump said.
“We will be dropping all sanctions.”
Meanwhile, the White House said in a statement that during the meeting, Trump asked Sharaa to deport Palestinians it described as “terrorists”, “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in northeast Syria,” referring to ISIL Takfiri group.
“[I am] ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start,” Trump told the GCC after his meeting with Sharaa.
“It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.”
BREAKING:
🇺🇲🇸🇾 Trump announced lifting of sanctions against Syria:
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness… Oh what I do for the crown prince”
In return, yesterday the Times reported that the US will get the… pic.twitter.com/TeGFc9K9cx
— Megatron (@Megatron_ron) May 13, 2025
Source: Agencies
