United States President Donald Trump says Washington is considering the normalisation of ties with Damascus after he met Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa in the first such encounter between the two nations’ leaders in 25 years.
Trump made the announcement on Wednesday at a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, during which he also said the US will drop “all sanctions” against Syria.
“With the support of the great leaders in this room, we are currently exploring normalising relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump said, confirming his brief meeting with al-Sharaa.
The “cessation of sanctions” will give Syria “a fresh start”, Trump said.
“We will be dropping all sanctions.”
Trump met al-Sharaa, who once pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and swept to power in Syria at the head of a group of opposition fighters, before a summit between the United States and Gulf Arab countries.
Photos posted on Saudi state media showed them shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan joined Trump and MBS virtually in the meeting, Turkiye’s Anadolu News Agency reported.
In a statement, the White House said that during the meeting, Trump asked al-Sharaa to deport Palestinians it described as “terrorists”, “sign onto the Abraham Accords with Israel” and “assume responsibility for ISIS detention centres in northeast Syria”.
On Tuesday night, Trump had announced he was lifting sanctions on the war-battered country, drawing praise from Arab leaders and celebrations in the streets across Syria.
Trump’s pledge to lift sanctions could be a major turning point for a country still adjusting to life after more than 50 years of iron-gripped rule by the al-Assad family.
Bashar al-Assad was toppled in December after a lightning offensive by opposition rebels led by al-Sharaa’s forces.
Speaking in an address to the nation after his return to Syria from Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, al-Sharaa described Trump’s decision to lift sanctions as “courageous” and “brave”, as it would “help the Syrian people to have a better future and to achieve stability in the region”.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Riyadh, described Trump’s promise to lift all sanctions and his meeting with al-Sharaa as significant developments.
“This is a massive breakthrough, giving the new authorities in Syria more legitimacy internationally,” the correspondent said.
He said Trump’s decision would likely also pave the way for the GCC to commit more financial aid to the authorities in Syria, noting that US sanctions had previously held them back from investing.
Al Jazeera’s Imran Khan, reporting from Damascus, said the meeting between Trump and al-Sharaa, which lasted for 33 minutes, was a major diplomatic breakthrough.
“For the first time in 25 years, a Syrian president has met with an American president. That in itself is very historic.”
While ties between the US and Syria are at an “all-time high”, our correspondent said that it would be “very, very difficult” for Damascus to agree on Trump’s demand for Syria to sign on to the Abraham Accords and normalise ties with Israel.
Trump hopes to ‘make a deal’ with Iran
In other comments at the GCC meeting, Trump also said that he hopes to “make a deal” with Iran that would prevent that country from developing a nuclear weapon, but insisted that Tehran would have to cease support for a network of armed groups throughout the region.
Trump said that Iran “must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars and permanently and verifiably cease pursuit of nuclear weapons”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who is also the lead negotiator for a potential nuclear deal with the United States, slammed Trump’s remarks as a “deceitful”.
The Iranian foreign ministry confirmed that Iran will hold new talks with European powers later this week over Iran’s nuclear programme. The talks will take place in Istanbul, the capital of Turkiye, with the “E3” nations of Britain, France, and Germany in attendance.
Later on Wednesday, Trump travelled to Qatar’s capital Doha where a state visit with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was under way.
Qatar, a key US ally, was expected to announce hundreds of billions of dollars in investments in the US during the visit.
And as the state visit wound to a close, the White House announced that Qatar Airways would purchase up to 210 US-made Boeing aircraft, in a deal valued at $96bn.
Qatar also said it would invest in drone and counter-drone technologies from US firms Raytheon and General Atomics, according to the White House.
Trump’s first two days of a four-day swing through the Gulf region have been marked by lavish ceremonies and business deals, including a $600bn commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142bn in US arms sales to the kingdom.
Following his visit to Qatar, Trump is set to fly to Abu Dhabi to meet leaders from the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
He is then slated to fly back to Washington on Friday, but he has said he could fly to Turkiye instead for a potential meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid efforts to halt the war in Ukraine.
