Trump says U.S. will end sanctions on Syria ‘to give them a chance at greatness’

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States would remove sanctions against Syria imposed on the previous regime “in order to give them a chance at greatness.” The announcement was made during Trump’s speech at an investment forum in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after a meeting with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Trump is making the first stop of a Middle East trip that will also include visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The trip, the first major overseas tour since Trump returned to the White House, is largely focused on business deals with the oil-rich region. It comes as the president faces security concerns from current and former members of the U.S. military and defense and Secret Service officials over a luxury jet the Qatari governmentis proposing as a gift to the United States for Trump’s use.

“I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness,” Trump said, to a standing ovation from the audience at the investment forum in Saudi Arabia where he was speaking.

Trump said he had recently discussed the situation in Syria with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as well as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Oh, what I do for the Crown Prince,” Trump mused after some of the applause had died down.

Trump added that the sanctions on Syria were “brutal and crippling,” even as he acknowledged they served “really an important function.”

“But now it’s their time to shine,” he said of Syria. “It’s time to shine. We’re taking them all off. … So I say, good luck, Syria, show us something very special like they’ve done, frankly, in Saudi Arabia, okay? They’re going to show us something special.”

“Mohammed, do you sleep at night? How do you sleep?” President Donald Trump jokingly asked Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Tuesday at an investment forum in Riyadh.

Trump was referring to how “exciting” it must be to be a leader in “a modern and rising Middle East” - but his words were also a reminder of a darker part of recent history. The CIA determined in 2018 that Mohammed ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul that year.

Nevertheless, the Biden administration - while condemning Khashoggi’s “heinous murder” - later declared Mohammed immune from a civil lawsuit in the United States, citing his position as the sitting head of Saudi Arabia’s government.

“He’s an incredible man,” Trump said of Mohammed. “Known him a long time now. There’s nobody like him. Thank you very much. Appreciate it, my friend.”

It has been eight years since Trump first visited the kingdom as president, and in that time, his personal relationship with the Saudi crown prince has withstood significant trials.

While the kingdom was shunned by the international community and business leaders for a time following Khashoggi’s killing, the investors and brands are now back. The same investment forum that Trump addressed in Riyadh was also attended by CEOs from Uber, Amazon, BlackRock and SpaceX.

“We reaffirm this important bond, and we take the next steps to make our relationship closer, stronger,” Trump told the forum, and he pledged that the alliance would endure. “It is more powerful than ever before. And by the way, it will remain that way. We don’t go in and out like other people,” he said to roars of applause.

As Trump concluded his remarks at the investment forum in Saudi Arabia, The Village People’s “YMCA” began playing, as it typically does at the end of his rallies in the United States. The prince strode up to the stage and posed for photos with Trump.