Trump: Lifting 'Crippling' Sanctions On Syria 'Gives Them A Chance For Greatness'

Forbes Breaking News

Speaking at a plenary session of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Wednesday, President Trump discussed his decision to lift sanctions on Syria.

Transcript

00:00As you are, we are currently exploring normalizing relations with Syria's new government, as

00:06you know, beginning with my meeting with President Ahmed al-Shahra and Secretary Rubio's meeting

00:14with the Syrian foreign minister in Turkey.

00:18After discussing the situation with Crown Prince Mohammed and President Erdogan of Turkey,

00:27I'm also ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria to give them a fresh start.

00:32It gives them a chance for greatness.

00:35The sanctions were really crippling, very powerful.

00:38And I spoke to Mohammed and I spoke to a friend from Turkey who we just spoke to also by phone

00:47now, but felt very strongly that this would give them a chance.

00:52It's not going to be easy anyway, so it gives them a good, strong chance.

00:55And it was my honor to do so.

00:58So we will be dropping all of the sanctions on Syria, which I think really is going to

01:04be a good thing.

01:05And actually, we made a speech last night, and that was the thing that got the biggest

01:09applause from the room.

01:10We had a very crowded room with thousands of people, and the statement that got the biggest

01:16applause was dropping the sanctions on Syria.

01:19Likewise, in Lebanon, there's a new chance for a future free from the grip of Hezbollah terrorists,

01:26if the new president and prime minister can rebuild an effective Lebanese state.

01:31We just appointed a very good ambassador, a friend of mine who's Lebanese, and I didn't

01:37even know that.

01:38And I said, why do you want to be the ambassador to Lebanon?

01:41That could be dangerous.

01:42He said, I don't care.

01:43I grew up there.

01:44I love the country, and I don't care if it's dangerous or not dangerous.

01:49I want to do that.

01:50And he's a very capable man, very successful man from the United States, and he's going to

01:55be your ambassador.

01:56He's going to do a great job.

01:58But this is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to forge a Lebanon that is prosperous and at

02:05peace with its neighbors.

02:07And I think things can really happen there.

02:10They've had a tough go of it for a long time.

02:15At the end of my first term, all of the momentum of this region was toward peace.

02:19I especially want to thank and congratulate the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain for their

02:24vision and courage in signing the historic Abraham Accords.

02:30It was something that's a very big thing.

02:33We would have, I believe we would have had it filled out had the election been called fairly,

02:40which it was.

02:41It was a rigged election.

02:42I hope that in the near future, we can continue that progress.

02:47We have a mandate from the American people, the likes of which people haven't seen for 129

02:52years.

02:52As they say, it was the most consequential election in America in 129 years.

02:58So that sounds like a long time.

03:00So we'll take that.

03:02But in the future, we'll continue that progress by adding more countries to the Abraham Accords.

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