US loosens sanctions against Syria after Trump promise
US loosens sanctions against Syria after Trump promise
The Trump administration decided on Friday to loosen the sanctions against Syria which marked an important change of direction in US politics. President Donald Trump had promised to take the measures back during a trip to the Middle East.
background of the sanctions
officers of the Trump administration had had inconspicuous conversations for months to prepare the way for a sanction relief that is intended to help the country recover after years of a devastating war and to rebuild after the fall of the drained leader Bashar al-Assad.
permits for Syrian transactions
On Friday, the US Ministry of Finance said that Syria has received a general license, authorizing transactions with the interim-Syrian government as well as the central bank and state companies. The GL25 license "approved transactions that are prohibited by the Syrian sanctions regulations, and in fact raises the sanctions against Syria". In addition, she will enable "new investments and private activity in accordance with the strategy of the president focused on America's preference", it was said in a press release .
relief by the Caesar Act
The US State Department also published an 180-day contradiction in accordance with the Caesar Act to ensure that sanctions do not hinder investments and drive the restoration and rehabilitation efforts in Syria. Foreign Minister Marco Rubio explained in a Explanation that the exceptions will facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water and sanitary services and enable more effective humanitarian reaction throughout Syria.
political implications
"Today's measures are the first step to implement the president's vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States," said Rubio. During a visit to Saudi Arabia last week, when he met the interim-Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa, Trump announced that the sanctions against Syria quickly canceled. This announcement surprised some civil servants and triggered a hustle and bustle in the US government to implement the decision.
reactions and international relationships
Shortly afterwards,Rubio said that the United States would give exceptions from the Syria sanctions that are required by law. In the meantime, the government is involved in a complicated technical review of the sanctions, which is expected to take weeks. "If we make enough progress, we would like to abolish the law because it will be difficult to get investments in a country if the sanctions could come back at any time in six months. We are not yet there. That is hasty," said Rubio.
During his stay in Saudi Arabia,Trump said that he made the decision to cancel the sanctions after talking to the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Saudi-Arab officials had been coordinated behind the scenes for months and argued that the lifting of the sanctions would boost the Syrian economy and contribute to the stabilization of the entire region.
The Turkish government also had contacts with the United States via Syria and was informed about the work that aimed to check whether the sanctions were canceled. An informed source announced that the Turkish government supported these efforts. However, not all US allies in the region agreed to Trump's projects: Israel was against the step, and Trump ignored their objections.
An Israeli official had previously told CNN that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Trump asked in Washington in April not to remove sanctions against Syria, since he feared that this could lead to a repeating of events from October 7, 2023 than to attack by Hamas. Trump admitted last week that he did not ask Israel about sanction relief for Syria. "I thought it was the right thing to do," he said at the end of his Middle East tour.
CNNS Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler and Alex Marquardt contributed to this report.
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