In Saudi Arabia Speech, Trump Says He’ll Lift Syria Sanctions And Urges Iran To Negotiate

President Donald Trump lifted sanctions on Syria Tuesday and dangled a similar enticement to Iran during a speech in Saudi Arabia, offering himself up as a historic peacemaker and outlining a transactional vision for future cooperation in the Middle East based on “commerce, not chaos.”

Expressing hope about Syria’s new government, Trump announced that he would lift all sanctions on Damascus “to give them a chance at greatness,” something he said the leaders of Turkey and Saudi Arabia had encouraged him to do.

“Oh, what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sat beaming below the stage.

And while declaring that Iran “will never have a nuclear weapon,” Trump offered what he called “an olive branch” to strike a deal to curtail its nuclear program that could ease economic sanctions on Tehran. “Iran can have a much brighter future,” Trump said. “The choice is theirs to make.”

But, the president asserted that his offer “will not last forever,” threatening “maximum pressure” should talks falter. “Things are happening at a very fast pace,” Trump said. “So they have to make their move right now, one way or the other. Make your move.”

The evening speech came after Trump, during his first day in Riyadh, met with billionaire investors and touted a $600 billion U.S. investment commitment by Saudi Arabia. Trump’s lofty remarks about the region’s development and future sought to broaden the focus on his week-long trip to the region, which he described as a place of growth and limitless potential.

“A new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts of tired divisions of the past,” Trump said.

Marveling at the Arab world’s rapid development, Trump contrasted his approach to the region, and the world more broadly, with his more traditional predecessors who long adhered to a foreign policy anchored in alliances built around advancing democratic values. Trump implied a particular break from the nation-building efforts and invasions of the George W. Bush-era, which typified the long-running GOP foreign policy orthodoxy that he’s long railed against and, as president, upended. He did not mention Bush by name.

“It is crucial for the wider world to note, this great transformation has not come from Western interventionists flying in with lectures on how to live or how to govern your own affairs,” Trump said, declaring that “the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built.”

At the same time, Trump expressed an eagerness to play a major role in the region, to catalyze talks with Iran, as well as with Lebanon and Syria, and hope about eventually seeing Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords to normalize relations with Israel.

“I really think it's going to be something special, but you'll do it in your own time,” Trump said.

While criticizing Iran’s leaders for being “focused on stealing their people's wealth to fund terror and bloodshed abroad,” Trump offered what he called “a new path” and said he’d be “very happy” if the U.S. can make a deal with Iran to curtail its nuclear program.

“As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound,” he added.

Trump also pointed to his ongoing efforts to broker a peace between Russia and Ukraine, with the possibility of talks in Istanbul Thursday between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin. With Putin’s attendance up in the air, Trump plans to send Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio to take part in those potential meetings rather than changing his own scheduled visits to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to take part himself, a White House official said on Tuesday.

The president also touted his recent truce with the Iran-backed Houthis after a nearly two-month skirmish in the Red Sea.

“We hit them hard. We got what we came for, and then we got out,” he said.

Trump began his remarks by recapping the first few months of his term, describing efforts to constrain immigration, cut government regulations and set up trade deals with the United Kingdom and China.

“We are rocking, the United States is the hottest country,” the president said, before cutting himself off to pay deference to his hosts.

“With the exception of your country,” he interjected. “You’re hotter.”