The government of Syria expressed gratitude to President Donald Trump and his administration on Wednesday following the president’s announcement that it would remove the country from the State Department’s State Sponsors of Terrorism List, which it has been on since 1979.
President Trump met his Syrian counterpart, President Ahmed al-Sharaa, at the annual NATO summit in Turkey on Wednesday. Trump has been highly complimentary of Sharaa, a former wanted al-Qaeda terrorist, since his overthrow of former Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, a key ally of Iran and Russia. Sharaa, in turn, has formally joined the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State and endeavored to expand opportunities for collaboration with Washington.
In response to the removal from the list, Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani declared on Wednesday that his government had “closed a dark chapter in Syria’s history.”
“Our sincere thanks and appreciation to the United States, led by President Trump, for this decision, and to my friend Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to the esteemed Ambassador Tom Barrack, and to everyone who stood by Syria,” he wrote in a message on social media, sharing a photo of the letter from President Trump confirming his intention to remove Syria.
Sharaa called the move “historic,” according to Syrian state media, and expressed gratitude to the Trump administration for expanding the possibility of international investment in the country.
The State Sponsors of Terrorism list is a designation carrying one of the highest levels of sanctions the United States can impose on a country, reserved for the most egregious supporters of terrorist activity on the planet. Currently, the list includes only Cuba, North Korea, Iran, and Syria – all four countries notably allies during the Assad dynasty’s rule of Syria. According to the State Department, being on the list results in “restrictions on U.S. foreign assistance; a ban on defense exports and sales; certain controls over exports of dual use items; and miscellaneous financial and other restrictions.”
During his meeting with Sharaa at the NATO summit, Trump said that he believed it would be appropriate to remove Syria from the State Sponsors of Terrorism list, where it had been placed for decades due to the Assad regime’s relationships with various jihadist terrorist organizations, including the Iranian proxies Hamas, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
“I think I will. Why wouldn’t I? He’s done a great job,” Trump told reporters, responding to a question about whether he had considered removing Syria from the state sponsors list. Trump repeated his suggestion that Sharaa could “help with Hezbollah,” presumably by engaging in military activity in Lebanon, which Damascus has adamantly refused to do.
“Syria had one of the great cultures — the professors and lawyers and doctors — it had one of the great cultures of any country, not just the Middle East,” Trump continued, “and then it went through this terrible period of time … They’re proud of the job he’s done.”
Following Trump’s public comments, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Trump sent a formal letter to Sharaa expressing intent to remove Syria from the state sponsors list.
“Today, I notified Congress of my decision to revoke Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism,” the letter reportedly read. “And in accordance with the law, Congress will now conduct a review lasting 45 days to complete this decision and make it final. I promised to remove all obstacles preventing the rebuilding of your country, and very soon you will finally be able to do so.”
The letter went on to add that American companies were “ready to invest in Syria” to make it “more prosperous than ever before.”
The State Department also formally confirmed the intent of removing Syria from the list.
“This is yet another historic step by President Trump to give the Syrian people a chance at greatness,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement on Wednesday. “Lifting sanctions on Syria will unlock international trade and investment, give Syria a chance to rebuild, and open up a new chapter for the Syrian people.”
Secretary Rubio described the move as a response to “the positive changes and counterterrorism actions taken by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa, and formal assurances provided by President al-Sharaa that Syria will not support acts of international terrorism in the future.”
Syria’s removal from the list under the current government is especially remarkable given Sharaa’s history. Prior to his takeover of Syria in December 2024, the Syrian president was known as “Abu Mohammed al-Jolani,” the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda offshoot terrorist militia. The U.S. government maintained a $10 million reward for information leading to Sharaa’s capture through 2025. HTS’s activities were largely focused on toppling the Assad regime during the decade-long Syrian civil war, which placed it in direct conflict with Hezbollah and other Iranian proxies. Sharaa’s acrimonious relationship with Iran and its proxies has facilitated his efforts to build positive relations with Western states.