They’ve had their share of travesty, war, killing. Many years. That’s why my administration has already taken the first steps toward restoring normal relations between the United States and Syria for the first time in more than a decade,” Trump said to applause from the crowd. “And I am very pleased to announce that Secretary Marco Rubio will be meeting with the new foreign ministry in Turkey. After discussing the situation in Syria with the crown prince, your crown prince and also, with President [Recip Tayyip] Erdogan of Turkey, who called me the other day and asked for a very similar thing, among others and friends of mine, people who I have a lot of respect for in the Middle East. I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.”

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Trump continued to laughter from the crowd. “The sanctions were brutal and crippling and served as really an important function. Nevertheless, at the time, but now it’s their time, it’s their time to shine. We are taking them all off. I think they are going to have, based on the people and spirit and everything else I’m hearing about, I say good luck, Syria, show us something very special.”

During his first term in office, Trump launched strikes on Syria after forces backing then-Syrian President Bashir al-Assad used chemical weapons in 2017 and 2018 after the Syrian dictator used chemical weapons during the country’s civil war that broke out in 2011, during the Arab Spring.

The United States has imposed various sanctions that ramped up in the wake of the Syrian Civil War’s start in 2011, dropping trade from $900 million to $60 million by 2012, according to Middle East Eye.

Assad fled Syria in December 2024, taking refuge in Moscow along with his wife and family. Trump had earlier called Syria “a mess” and “not our friend” in a December 2024 post on Truth Social.

The new Syrian government, led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), a former al-Qaeda affiliate, was accused of massacring civilians from Syria’s Alawite ethnic minority in March.