This will mark the first step in delivering President Donald Trump’s vision of ‘a new relationship’ between the U.S. and Syria, the State Department said.
The United States on Friday granted sanctions relief to Syria to help the country rebuild its economy following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s regime last year.
It follows President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement during his recent Middle East tour that he intended to lift sanctions.
The Treasury said it has issued a general license, known as GL25, which will effectively lift sanctions by authorizing transactions with the new Syrian government, as well as Syria’s financial sector and petroleum-related services.
It also authorizes transactions with certain
blocked persons, including interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who was formerly sanctioned under the name Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani.
The move is expected to pave the way for new investment and private sector activity in Syria, which the Treasury said aligns with President Donald Trump’s “America First strategy.”
“This is just one part of a broader U.S. government effort to remove the full architecture of sanctions imposed on Syria due to the abuses of the Bashar al-Assad regime,” the Treasury said in a
statement.
“The United States government is committed to supporting a Syria that is stable, unified, and at peace with itself and its neighbors,” it added, noting that sanctions relief was granted with the understanding that Syria will not provide a safe haven for terrorist organizations.
The State Department also
issued a 180-day waiver under the Caesar Act to ensure that sanctions do not hinder U.S. partners from investing in Syria, allowing them to help advance Syria’s economy recovery.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver would help to facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation in Syria, and enable the flow of humanitarian aid across the war-torn country.
“Today’s actions represent the first step in delivering on the President’s vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States,” Rubio said in a
statement.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry issued a
statement following the announcement, saying that it welcomed the Trump administration’s decision to lift sanctions.
The move follows Trump’s meeting with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on May 14. Rubio stated that Trump has made clear his expectation to al-Sharaa that sanctions relief must be followed by “prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities.”
“President Trump is providing the Syrian government with the chance to promote peace and stability, both within Syria and in Syria’s relations with its neighbors,” Rubio said.
Prior to the meeting, Trump
announced that his administration was taking steps to re-establish diplomatic relations with the war-torn country.
“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said during the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in Riyadh on May 13.
The United States
designated Syria as a “state sponsor of terrorism” in 1979. In 2011, it imposed additional sanctions in response to the Assad regime’s violent suppression of protesters, which triggered a civil war that lasted 13 years before the regime was ultimately overthrown by rebel groups
led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham—an organization
designated by the U.S. government as a foreign terrorist organization—last year.
The European Council also
announced on May 20 that it will lift economic sanctions on Syria to help the country “rebuild a new, inclusive, pluralistic and peaceful Syria free from harmful foreign interference.”
Ryan Morgan and Reuters contributed to this report.
