SOURCE :- THE AGE NEWS
By Yousef Saba, Gram Slattery, Pesha Magid and Nafisa Eltahir
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that the US will lift long-standing sanctions on Syria, and secured a $US600 billion ($926 billion) commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US on a trip to the Gulf.
The US agreed to sell Saudi Arabia an arms package worth nearly $US142 billion ($220 billion), according to the White House, which called it “the largest defence cooperation agreement” Washington has ever made.
The surprise announcement about sanctions on Syria would be a huge boost for a country that has been shattered by more than a decade of civil war. Rebels led by current President Ahmed al-Sharaa toppled President Bashar al-Assad last December.
Trump also expressed in his strongest terms yet a willingness to negotiate with Iran, signalling a reordering of US foreign policy in which there are no “permanent enemies”, The Washington Post reported.
Speaking in Riyadh, Trump said he was acting on a request from Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to scrap the Syria sanctions.
“Oh what I do for the crown prince,” Trump said, drawing laughs from the audience. He said the sanctions had served an important function, but it was time for the country to move forward.
US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman tour Diriyah, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the ancestral home of the al Salman royal family, on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
The US declared Syria a state sponsor of terrorism in 1979, added sanctions in 2004 and imposed further sanctions after the civil war broke out in 2011.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani said on X that the planned move marked a “new start” in Syria’s path to reconstruction. Trump has agreed to briefly greet Sharaa in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, a White House official said.
Trump and the Saudi crown prince signed an agreement covering energy, defence, mining and other areas. The US president has sought to strengthen relations with the Saudis to improve regional ties with Israel and act as a bulwark against Iran.
The agreement covers deals with more than a dozen US defence companies in areas including air and missile defence, air force and space advancement, maritime security and communications, the fact sheet said.
The Saudi prince said the deal included investment opportunities worth $US600 billion, including deals worth $300 billion that were signed during Trump’s visit.
“We will work in the coming months on the second phase to complete deals and raise it to $US1 trillion ($1.5 trillion),” he said.
Saudi Arabia is one of the largest customers for US arms.
“I really believe we like each other a lot,” Trump said during a meeting with the crown prince.
The US and Saudi Arabia had discussed Riyadh’s potential purchase of Lockheed F-35 jets, two sources briefed on discussions told Reuters, referring to a military aircraft that the kingdom is long thought to have been interested in. It was not immediately clear whether those aircraft were covered in the deal announced on Tuesday.
Trump speaks at the Saudi-US Investment Forum in Riyadh.Credit: AP
Trump arrived in Riyadh – the first stop in his four-day Middle East tour – with a raised fist as he got off Air Force One, which had been escorted in by Saudi F-15 fighters.
The US president, who was accompanied by US business leaders, including billionaire Elon Musk, will go to Qatar on Wednesday and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday.
Donald Trump arrives on Air Force One at King Khalid International Airport Royal Terminal in Riyadh.Credit: AP
He has not scheduled a stop in Israel, a decision that has raised questions about where the close ally stands in Washington’s priorities. The focus of the trip is on investment rather than security matters in the Middle East.
“While energy remains a cornerstone of our relationship, the investments and business opportunities in the kingdom have expanded and multiplied many, many times over,” Saudi Investment Minister Khalid al-Falih said.
“As a result … when Saudis and Americans join forces, very good things happen, more often than not great things happen when those joint ventures happen,” he said before Trump’s arrival.
Trump told the investment forum, in what The Washington Post described as a campaign-style speech, that relations with Saudi Arabia would be even stronger.
Royal Saudi Air Force F-15s provide an honorary escort for Air Force One.Credit: AP
He was shown speaking with Riyadh’s sovereign wealth fund governor Yaser al-Rumayyan, Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser, and Falih as he toured a hall that showed off models for the kingdom’s flashy, multi-billion-dollar development projects.
Trump called the Saudi crown prince a friend and said they had a good relationship, according to a pool report from The Wall Street Journal, adding that Saudi investment would help create jobs in the US.
Business leaders at the investment forum included: Larry Fink, the CEO of asset management firm BlackRock; Stephen A. Schwartzman, CEO of asset manager Blackstone; and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Musk chatted briefly with Trump and the crown prince, who is otherwise known as MbS, during a palace reception for the US president. Top US businessmen, including Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman joined Trump for a lunch with MbS.
Elon Musk at the Saudi Royal Court on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
Trump also told the investment forum that he would never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, but wanted to offer a new and better path toward a more helpful future. He said Tehran will face maximum pressure if no new nuclear deal is reached.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, said last week that he expected progress imminently on expanding accords brokered by Trump in his first term in office, under which Arab states including the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco recognised Israel.
Trump said it was his “fervent hope” that Saudi Arabia would soon sign its own normalisation agreement with Israel, adding, “But you’ll do it in your own time”.
Still, Benjamin Netanyahu’s opposition to a permanent stop to the war in Gaza or to the creation of a Palestinian state makes progress on similar talks with the Saudis unlikely, sources told Reuters.
Reuters
Trump and MbS speak during a meeting at the Royal Palace.Credit: AP
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