The US Treasury said Thursday it was working to Trump’s direction on Syria sanctions and aims to implement “the necessary authorizations that would be critical to bringing new investment into Syria.”
It added in a post on X that the “Treasury’s actions can help rebuild Syria’s economy, financial sector, and infrastructure and could put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous, and stable future.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that the US will issue waivers to Syria sanctions and is not fully repealing them for the time being.
“As we make progress, hopefully we’ll be in a position soon, or one day, to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions,” Rubio said in Antalya, Turkey, adding that the Trump administration hoped to eventually repeal the waivers because the prospect of sanctions returning every six months is a deterrent to investment.
An Israeli official told CNN earlier that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had asked Trump not to remove sanctions on Syria, saying he feared it would lead to a repeat of the events of October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants attacked Israel.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio clarified that the US will issue waivers to Syria sanctions and is not fully repealing them for the time being.
“As we make progress, hopefully we’ll be in a position soon, or one day, to go to Congress and ask them to permanently remove the sanctions,” Rubio said in Antalya, Turkey, adding that the Trump administration hoped to eventually repeal the waivers because the prospect of sanctions returning every six months is a deterrent to investment.