Riyadh, May 13 (EFE) – United States President Donald Trump announced Tuesday the lifting of sanctions against Syria after talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump told a packed auditorium in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during the first appearance of his four-day visit to the Middle East.
“I think the United States was really dragging its feet on sanctions – they wanted to use it as leverage in order to push other policies in Syria,” he added, adding that besides Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were also pushing for this to happen.
Speaking at the investment forum in Saudi Arabia, the first stop on Trump’s Middle East tour, he asserted that sanctions in the Arab country are “brutal and crippling,” suggesting they no longer serve an important function.
Trump added that it was Syria’s “time to shine” following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December.
“So I say, Good luck, Syria. Show us something very special, like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia,” he added.
Syria has been weighed down by international sanctions imposed during al-Assad’s tenure, which the new authorities are seeking to remove in order to achieve economic recovery.
The announcement comes a day before Trump is scheduled to meet with his Syrian counterpart, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Saudi Arabia.
A White House source told EFE that “President Trump agreed to greet the Syrian president” during the meeting of Gulf Council leaders, although he did not go into details or confirm whether it would be a brief formality or a proper meeting.EFE
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