State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Tommy Pigott was asked about Syria's State Sponsor Of Terrorism" designation review and potential impacts on sanctions.
00:00Thank you so much, Tommy. Two questions on Syria. As President Trump has instructed the State Department to review the removal of Syria's sponsor of terrorism status, will that happen soon and what would that mean in terms of sanctions?
00:15Sorry, repeat your question one more time.
00:17Yeah. President Trump has instructed the State Department to review the removal of the Syrian sponsor of terrorism status. Will that happen soon and what would that mean in terms of sanctions?
00:28Well, I'm not going to preview the finalization of certain sanctions announcements. When we have something to announce, we'll announce it. What I can say, as the President has said, as Special Envoy Barak has said, as the Secretary has said, we want to give Syria a chance for greatness and that Syria is at a critical crossroads here when it comes to the ability to achieve that. So we continue in dialogue here. We continue having the conversations with all different stakeholders in the region. When we have something to announce, we'll announce it.
00:52And the second question, as you are mediating the negotiation between the Syrian Democratic Forces and the Syrian government, have you seen any progress in these negotiations recently?
01:01And last week, Tommy said that the U.S. position has not changed it on the evolution of these negotiations. Can you clarify that whether the U.S. dictating the Syrians an SDF in these negotiations, or if you are leaving that for the Syrians to make decision if they want a federal state or if they want to have a centralized state?
01:20Well, Special Envoy Barak has spoken about this. I'm not going to go further than his comments in terms of talking about sensitive conversations between different parties. I'll refer you to his comments on more detail there. Yes, Michelle in the back.
