U.S. President Donald Trump signed an order Monday evening that removes most of the American sanctions imposed on Syria, two and a half months after his historic meeting in Riyadh with Syrian President Ahmad al‑Sharaa. Trump had already promised at that time to lift the sanctions, to allow Syria to “start anew.”
White House spokesperson, Karoline Leavitt, had announced earlier Monday that Trump would sign the executive order.
White House spokeswoman on lifting sanctions on Syria: "It promotes peace"
In May, the U.S. administration announced some easing of sanctions to encourage new investments in Syria. However, Leavitt now stated that Trump is directing a “canceling of the sanctions regime”—meaning the majority of sanctions imposed on Syria by successive U.S. administrations since 1979, when Syria was first designated a State Sponsor of Terrorism.
A senior administration official said Monday evening, after the order was signed, that the U.S. is now also considering removing Syria from the blacklist of countries that support terrorism. Another senior American official, at the Treasury Department in Washington, said that the step Trump took would end "Syria's isolation" from the international banking system.
The order signed by the president emphasizes that sanctions imposed on the ousted Syrian dictator Bashar Assad and his associates will not be lifted, following the atrocities committed by the Syrian regime in the bloody civil war - a war that ended after 14 years in December last year, with the rise to power of the jihadist rebels led by al-Sharaa.
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Sanctions imposed on individuals linked to Syria's chemical weapons program will also not be lifted, as will sanctions imposed on individuals responsible for human rights violations, drug traffickers and what the order described as "Iranian proxies," i.e. the Islamic Republic's agents, most of whose activities in Syria have been halted since Assad's ouster.
“This is another promise the president is delivering in order to promote peace and stability in the region,” Leavitt said. She added that Trump “is committed to helping Syria become stable, united and at peace with itself and its neighbors.”
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US President Donald Trump met with Syrian President Ahmad al‑Sharaa in Riyadh in May
(Photo: SAUDI ROYAL PALACE / BANDAR AL-JALOUD/AFP)
The new order comes amid ongoing talks about a security agreement between Israel and Syria. Although Jerusalem currently rules out the possibility of normalization—due to Syria’s insistence on full withdrawal from the Golan Heights—Trump himself on Sunday expressed hope that additional countries would join the Abraham Accords and recognize Israel.
In an interview with Fox News Sunday, he specifically mentioned the removal of sanctions on Syria in that context, saying, “this is significant.” During his meeting with al‑Sharaa in Saudi Arabia, while visiting the Middle East, Trump urged the Syrian President to join the Abraham Accords, and later expressed confidence that he would do so once conditions in Syria “stabilize.”
First published: 21:51, 06.30.25