RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—President Donald Trump held a meeting with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa on Wednesday in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh. The historic meeting took place after the president announced on May 13 that he would lift sanctions on Syria.
The meeting with the Syrian leader took place before the president’s scheduled address to the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which comprises six countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman.
“We are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria’s new government,” Trump said during his remarks to the GCC leaders, noting that the process began with his meeting earlier with al-Sharaa.
Trump told reporters on Air Force One that the meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa went “great.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together. I spoke with President Erdogan, who is very friendly with him. He feels he’s got a shot of doing a good job. It’s a torn up country.”
He said he thought Syria would at some point join the Abraham Accords, an agreement that established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab neighbors in late 2020.
“I think they have to get themselves straightened up,“ Trump said. ”I told him, ‘I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ But they have a lot of work to do.”
Asked if there had been a conversation about a potential Trump Tower in Damascus, Trump said: “No, that I haven’t heard. We’ll have to wait a little while until things calm down, a little while with the country.”
“I think he’s got the potential to do—he’s a real leader. He led a charge and he’s pretty amazing,” he added.
According to the White House, Trump also asked the Syrian leader to “tell all foreign terrorists to leave Syria, deport Palestinian terrorists, help the U.S. prevent the resurgence of ISIS and assume responsibility for ISIS detention centers in Northeast Syria.”
Trump said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also scheduled to meet with Syria’s foreign minister in Turkey later this week.
On Tuesday, Trump announced he had ordered the cessation of U.S. sanctions against Syria, warming diplomatic relations with the country’s de facto new leaders, saying it was to “give them a fresh start.”
“It gives them a chance for greatness. The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful,” he said.
Trump said he made the decision after talking with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“It was my honor to do so,” Trump said.
After the announcement, the entire conference room erupted in a long, standing ovation.
Trump said he met with al-Sharaa alongside the Crown Prince and Erdogan joined the meeting by phone.
The United States had imposed sanctions against Syria after the country fell into a state of civil war in 2011. They were aimed at increasing pressure on former leader of Syria, Bashar al-Assad, who eventually relinquished power and fled the country in December 2024, in the face of a surprise rebel offensive.
Since seizing Damascus, HTS and its leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, have sought to distance themselves from their Sunni Islamist fundamentalist roots and strike a more moderate tone.
Speaking in Saudi Arabia, Trump signaled he’s willing to give the new Syrian government some new diplomatic leeway and hopes to see post-Assad Syria flourish.
Following his meetings in Riyadh on the second day of his Middle East tour, Trump will travel to Doha, Qatar, for the next leg of his trip.
