May 24 (UPI) — President Donald Trump‘s administration is lifting sanctions on war-torn Syria, with the goal of speeding recovery and reconstruction efforts in the Middle Eastern country.
The move will pave the way for “new investment and private sector activity consistent with the President’s America First strategy,” Secretary of State Marco Rubiosaid in a statement this week.
Trump earlier this month met with Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa where he promised he would lift “crippling” U.S. sanctions.
“I have issued a 180-day waiver of mandatory Caesar Act sanctions to ensure sanctions do not impede the ability of our partners to make stability-driving investments, and advance Syria’s recovery and reconstruction efforts,” Rubio said in the statement.
“These waivers will facilitate the provision of electricity, energy, water, and sanitation, and enable a more effective humanitarian response across Syria.”
Trump at the time said sanctions were targeting entities and individuals that were “actively supporting the murderous and barbaric Assad regime.”
Assad was ousted from power last December, fleeing to Russia. It ended a five-decade run of Assad family rule in Syria.
In addition to lifting sanctions, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued Syria General License 25, allowing people previously blocked from conducting business with Syrian entities to do so under the new al-Sharaa government.
“The GL will allow for new investment and private sector activity consistent with the President’s America First strategy. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network is providing exceptive relief to permit U.S. financial institutions to maintain correspondent accounts for the Commercial Bank of Syria,” Rubio said in the statement.
“Today’s actions represent the first step in delivering on the President’s vision of a new relationship between Syria and the United States,” Rubio said. “President Trump is providing the Syrian government with the chance to promote peace and stability, both within Syria and in Syria’s relations with its neighbors. The President has made clear his expectation that relief will be followed by prompt action by the Syrian government on important policy priorities.”
The American directive comes just days after the European Union made a similar move. EU officials on Tuesday lifted its sanctions on Syria with the same goal of helping economic recovery.
“We want to help the Syrian people rebuild a new, inclusive and peaceful Syria,” EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said at the time.
The meeting comes after the US and the EU agreed to lift sanctions to allow the civil war-hit country to recover and rebuild.
Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted.
The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye’s state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation director Ibrahim Kalin, and secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun were part of the talks, which were closed to the press.
Al-Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria.
Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria’s recovery after years of civil war.
The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a “positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.
The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the al-Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country’s civil war.
The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the al-Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.
The two countries swap hundreds of soldiers and civilians as Russia launches more drone attacks on Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine have exchanged more prisoners of war as Ukrainian officials renew their calls for more sanctions in response to dozens of attack drones and ballistic missiles launched by Moscow’s forces at Kyiv overnight.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence said on Saturday it released 307 Ukrainian prisoners of war in exchange for as many Russian servicemen, who are being cared for in Belarus before their return to Russia.
Ukraine confirmed the exchange, saying among those returned were army soldiers, agents of the State Border Guard Service, and members of the National Guard of Ukraine.
The two sides each released 270 servicemen and 120 civilians on the Ukrainian border with Belarus on Friday, as part of the biggest prisoner exchange since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Both sides have agreed to exchange 1,000 prisoners, but the aerial attacks and ground fighting have not stopped.
Ukraine’s military on Saturday said overnight attacks launched from multiple Russian regions used 250 drones and 14 ballistic missiles to hit Kyiv and other areas, damaging several apartment buildings and a shopping mall, and injuring at least 15 people in the capital.
Sites in the Ukrainian regions of Dnipropetrovsk, Odesa and Zaporizhia were also hit, with Ukrainian forces saying six of the ballistic missiles were shot down by its air defences, along with 245 drones, many of which were said to be Iranian-designed.
A drone explosion lights up the sky over Kyiv during a Russian drone strike [Gleb Garanich/Reuters]
Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv’s regional state administration, said on Saturday morning that four Ukrainians were killed and several others injured over the past 24 hours in the region as a result of multiple Russian attacks.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said at least 100 Ukrainian drones attempted to strike Russian targets overnight. It said 64 unmanned aerial vehicles were downed overnight in the skies of the Belgorod region, along with 10 additional drones launched on Saturday morning.
Dozens more projectiles were downed over Kursk, Lipetsk and Voronezh and another five were shot down over Tver northwest of Moscow, it said.
‘Difficult night’
In a social media post, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country had another “difficult night” that he believes should convince the world that “the reason for the war being dragged out is in Moscow”.
“It is obvious that we need to put much more pressure on Russia to get results and start real diplomacy. We are waiting for sanctions from the US, Europe and all our partners. Only additional sanctions against key sectors of the Russian economy will force Moscow to agree to a ceasefire.”
The Group of Seven (G7) nations threatened on Friday to impose further sanctions on Russia if it fails to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said a week after talks in Turkiye’s capital Istanbul led only to an agreement on the exchange of prisoners of war, that Moscow has yet to send any “peace memorandum”.
“Instead, Russia sends deadly drones and missiles at civilians,” he wrote in a post on X, adding that “increased sanctions pressure on Moscow is necessary to accelerate the peace process.”
Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s John Hendren said the Istanbul meeting was disappointing for Zelenskyy because he wanted a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Instead, it was a much lower-level meeting. But they did manage to get this prisoner swap,” he said, adding that the exchanges could be over by Sunday but the details were not clear.
“Zelenskyy has been disappointed by the lack of additional US sanctions against Russia. Europe has agreed to new sanctions, but it’s not clear that they will really have the desired effect to bring Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table.”
The administration of United States President Donald Trump has taken its first concrete action to deliver sanctions relief for Syria, following a surprise policy pivot earlier this month.
On Friday, the US Department of the Treasury announced sweeping relief to an array of individuals and entities, which it said will “enable new investment and private sector activity consistent with [Trump’s] America First strategy”.
The US State Department, meanwhile, concurrently issued a waiver to a 2019 law, the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, that would “enable our foreign partners, allies, and the region to further unlock Syria’s potential”.
Trump surprised the international community when, on May 13, he pledged to remove sanctions placed on Syria during the leadership of its now-ousted leader, President Bashar al-Assad.
Friday’s announcements mark an initial step towards that goal, as Syria recovers from abuses under al-Assad’s government and 13 years of civil war.
“As President Trump promised, the Treasury Department and the State Department are implementing authorizations to encourage new investment into Syria,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“Syria must also continue to work towards becoming a stable country that is at peace, and today’s actions will hopefully put the country on a path to a bright, prosperous, and stable future”.
Sanctions relief is critical for Syria to move forward. The United States is issuing a Caesar Act sanctions waiver to increase investments and cash flows that will facilitate basic services and reconstruction in Syria. We support the Syrian people’s efforts to build a more…
Trump first unveiled his plans for sanctions relief during a tour of the Middle East in mid-May. He said lifting US sanctions would give Syria “a chance at greatness”, since the restrictions left the war-torn country economically isolated.
“It’s their time to shine. We’re taking them all off,” he said from Riyadh.
Shortly after, Trump met and shook hands with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who had only recently been removed from the US’s “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” list.
Appeal for relief
Calls for sanctions relief had grown following the fall of al-Assad’s government last December. As head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, al-Sharaa spearheaded the offensive that led to al-Assad fleeing the country, bringing the civil war to an end.
The war, which first broke out in 2011, had left Syria’s economy in tatters.
As many as 656,493 people were killed during the conflict, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, and a 2020 report from the United Nations estimated that the country suffered total economic losses of about $442.2bn in the first eight years of the war alone.
Sanctions have further dampened Syria’s economic outlook, making it difficult for countries with ties to the US to conduct business there.
Since taking power in December, Syria’s interim government has argued the ongoing sanctions, largely imposed during al-Assad’s rule, would slow development and cause further instability.
Trump’s announcement earlier this month buoyed hope for many Syrians of a new path forward, although the extent of the relief had remained unclear.
Earlier this week, the European Union also announced it had lifted sanctions against Syria.
Friday’s sanctions relief in the US applies to the “the Government of Syria … as in existence on or after May 13, 2025”, according to the Treasury Department.
The reprieve also applies to several previously sanctioned transportation, banking, tourism and fossil fuel entities.
Transactions related to Russia, Iran and North Korea remain under US sanctions.
One of the biggest hurdles, however, is the Caesar Syria Civilian Protection Act, a law that was passed in 2019, during Trump’s first term.
It included broad sanctions that targeted al-Assad’s government and its allies and supporters for atrocities committed against civilians.
The act was named after a former Syrian military photographer and whistleblower who smuggled out of the country a cache of images showing torture and mass killing at detention centres run by al-Assad’s security forces.
But since the law was passed by Congress, it will likely take an act of Congress to completely lift its restrictions.
The president, however, can issue temporary waivers to the law, which is what the Trump administration did on Friday.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the waiver will last for 180 days, in order to “increase investments and cash flows that will facilitate basic services and reconstruction in Syria”.
“We support the Syrian people’s efforts to build a more hopeful future,” Rubio said.
Finance officials from the Group of Seven (G7) nations have threatened they could impose further sanctions on Russia should it fail to agree a ceasefire in its war on Ukraine.
Ending their G7 meeting in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, where foreign ministers were also convening this week, the finance chiefs said on Thursday night that if efforts to end Russia’s “continued brutal war” in Ukraine failed, the group would look at how it could push Moscow to step back.
“If such a ceasefire is not agreed, we will continue to explore all possible options, including options to maximise pressure such as further ramping up sanctions,” a final communique following three days of meetings read.
The G7, comprised of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States, also pledged to work together to ensure that no countries that financed the war would be eligible to benefit from Kyiv’s reconstruction.
Canadian Finance Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that point was a “very big statement”, calling it a key pillar.
However, the group shied away from naming countries, including China, which the West has previously accused of supplying weapons to Russia.
The communique added that Russia’s sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would continue to be blocked until Moscow ended the war and paid reparations to Ukraine for the damage it caused to the country.
‘Clear signal?’
“I think it sends a very clear signal to the world … that the G7 is united in purpose and in action,” Champagne told the closing news conference.
However, the statement omitted mention of US President Donald Trump’s tariffs that are disrupting global trade and supply chains and swelling economic uncertainty.
Differences were also apparent in the approach to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Trump has unnerved US allies by sidelining them to launch bilateral ceasefire talks with Moscow, in which US officials have adopted many of the Kremlin’s narratives regarding the conflict.
In the statement, the description of the war was watered down from October’s G7 statement, issued before Trump’s re-election, that called it an “illegal, unjustifiable, and unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine”.
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors sit down for their first meeting at the G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors’ Meeting in Banff, Alberta, Canada, May 21, 2025 [File: Todd Korol/Reuters]
Tariffs
According to European Commission executive vice president, Valdis Dombrovskis, the ministers discussed a proposal to lower the $60-a-barrel price cap to $50 on Russian oil exports since Russian crude was selling below that level.
However, the official G7 communique did not present the plan as the US was “not convinced” about lowering the price cap, an unnamed European official told the Reuters news agency.
According to the European Union bill, duties will be enforced from July 1 and gradually increase over three years, from 6.5 percent to about 100 percent, halting trade.
‘Yet to be agreed’
As international entities continue to place sanctions on Russia for invading Ukraine, diplomatic efforts to end the war have increased after the two sides held their first face-to-face meeting last week.
However, Moscow appears set to continue to stall, as it has been doing since the US launched its push to broker a truce.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that new talks were “yet to be agreed” after reports that the Vatican was ready to host a future meeting to discuss a ceasefire.
Still, Russia and Ukraine are trading attacks.
On Friday morning, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems had downed 112 Ukrainian drones overnight, including 24 over the Moscow region.
A day earlier, Russia said it had fired an Iskander-M missile at part of the city of Pokrov in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.
May 22 (UPI) — The United States will impose sanctions on Sudan after determining that its military used chemical weapons against its breakaway paramilitary forces during their civil war, the State Department said.
The determination that the government of Sudan used chemical weapons last year was made by the United States on April 24 under the Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 and was delivered to Congress on Thursday.
The sanctions, which include restrictions on U.S. exports and access to U.S. government lines of credit, will be imposed on June 6, following the 15-day Congressional notification period, the department said.
The Sudanese government has yet to respond to the development.
The Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces have been locked in a brutal civil war since April 15, 2023, following years of political instability.
In March, the Sudanese military captured the capital, Khartoum, marking a significant victory in the war that has killed an estimated 150,000 people and continues to rage.
The United States has accused both SAF and RSF of committing crimes against humanity and, last month, said atrocities committed by the paramilitary forces meet the threshold of genocide.
In January, The New York Times reported that the SAF used chemical weapons at least twice against the RSF since the war began in remote areas of the country. Officials cited in the report said the chemical weapon used was chlorine gas.
Sudan has denied the accusation.
The Chemical and Biological Weapons Control and Warfare Elimination Act of 1991 is a U.S. law that requires the president to impose sanctions on countries determined to use chemical weapons.
Sudan is also a signatory to the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which obliges all signatories to chemically disarm by destroying their stockpiles of chemical weapons.
“The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations under the CWC,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
“The United States remains fully committed to hold to account those responsible for contributing to chemical weapons proliferation.”
The US will cut exports to Sudan and lines of government credit after determining banned weapons were used in the conflict between government forces and the RSF.
The United States will impose sanctions on Sudan after determining that the country’s military used chemical weapons last year while fighting against paramilitary forces.
“The United States calls on the Government of Sudan to cease all chemical weapons use and uphold its obligations” under the Chemical Weapons Convention, US Department of State spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement on Thursday.
Bruce said the US Congress has been notified of the State Department’s decision, and sanctions will be imposed around June 6.
They will include restrictions on US exports to Sudan and a block on access to US government lines of credit. Bruce’s statement did not include further details about when and where the chemical weapons were used by Sudanese government forces.
The New York Times reported in January that government forces had used chemical weapons on at least two occasions in remote parts of Sudan against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). The report cited unnamed US officials who said the weapon may have been chlorine gas, which can lead to severe respiratory pain and death.
Sudan’s army and the RSF have been locked in a civil war since April 2023 following a power struggle between the two sides.
The conflict has created one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises and a famine across Sudan, killing thousands and displacing 13 million people.
The US has also previously accused the RSF and its allies of committing genocide, and sanctioned top leaders like the RSF head, General Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
In January, the US also sanctioned Sudan’s military chief and de facto head of state, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for refusing to participate in international peace talks.
The group said it would call for analysis on international supply chain resilience.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven (G7) democracies have pledged to address “excessive imbalances” in the global economy and said they could increase sanctions on Russia.
The G7 announced the plan on Thursday as the officials, who met in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, said there was a need for a common understanding of how “non-market policies and practices” undermine international economic security.
The document did not name China, but references by the United States and other G7 economies to non-market policies and practices often are targeted at China’s state subsidies and export-driven economic model.
The final communique called for an analysis of market concentration and international supply chain resilience.
“We agree on the importance of a level playing field and taking a broadly coordinated approach to address the harm caused by those who do not abide by the same rules and lack transparency,” it said.
Lowering Russian oil price cap
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the G7 ministers discussed proposals for further sanctions on Russia to try to end its war in Ukraine. They included lowering the G7-led $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, given that Russian crude is now selling under that level, he said.
The G7 participants condemned what they called Russia’s “continued brutal war” against Ukraine and said that if efforts to achieve a ceasefire failed, they would explore all possible options, including “further ramping up sanctions”.
Russia’s sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would remain immobilised until Moscow ended the war and paid for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, the communique said. It did not mention a price cap.
Brent crude currently trades at around $64 per barrel.
A European official said the US is “not convinced” about lowering the Russian oil price cap.
Earlier this week, the US Treasury said Secretary Scott Bessent intended to press G7 allies to focus on rebalancing the global economy to protect workers and companies from China’s “unfair practices”.
The communique also recognised an increase in low-value international “de minimis” package shipments that can overwhelm customs and tax collection systems and be used for smuggling drugs and other illicit goods.
The duty-free de minimis exemption for packages valued below $800 has been exploited by Chinese e-commerce companies including Shein and Temu.
Syrians are hoping sanctions relief will help boost investment, reconstruction after more than a decade of civil war.
Business owners in Syria have welcomed the European Union’s decision this week to lift sanctions on the country, in what observers say is the most significant easing of Western pressure on Damascus in more than a decade.
The EU’s move, which followed a similar announcement by the United States in mid-May, was praised by Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani as one that would bolster Syria’s security and stability.
For many Syrian entrepreneurs, it also brings the hope of rebuilding their livelihoods after years of economic isolation.
“Companies that were ousted from Syria and stopped dealing with us because of the sanctions are now in contact with us,” Hassan Bandakji, a local business owner, told Al Jazeera.
“Many companies and producers are telling us they are coming back and that they want to reserve a spot in our market.”
The EU and US sanctions had levied wide-ranging sanctions against the government of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who was removed from power in a rebel offensive in December of last year.
The economic curbs had severely limited trade, investment, and financial transactions in Syria, cutting businesses off from supplies and international banking.
“The main obstacle we faced was getting raw materials and automated lines,” said Ali Sheikh Kweider, who manages a factory in the countryside of the Syrian capital, Damascus.
“As for bank accounts, we weren’t able to send or receive any transactions,” Kweider told Al Jazeera.
Syria’s new government, led by ex-rebel leader and interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, had called for the sanctions to be lifted as it seeks to rebuild the country.
US President Donald Trump said after a meeting with al-Sharaa in Saudi Arabia last week that he planned to order the lifting of American sanctions on Syria.
Reporting from Damascus, Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed said the government is hoping the sanctions relief will help Syria reintegrate into the international community.
It also views the EU’s announcement as additional “recognition of the new political leadership” in the country, Abdelwahed added.
The leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada have “strongly opposed” the expansion of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, threatening to “take concrete actions” if Israel does not cease its onslaught and lift restrictions on aid supply to the Palestinian enclave.
In a statement released on Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said they also oppose settlement expansions in the occupied West Bank. Settler violence has surged in the occupied West Bank as the world’s focus has remained on Gaza. Nearly 1,000 Palestinians have been killed and thousands displaced in Israeli raids.
The statement comes weeks after the Netherlands urged the European Union (EU) to review a trade agreement with Israel as the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified its bombardment of Gaza amid an aid blockade in place since March 2.
Western countries backed Israel’s right to self-defence when Netanyahu’s government launched a devastating offensive in Gaza on October 7, 2023. That offensive has killed more than 53,000 Palestinians and turned vast swathes of Gaza into rubble.
On Tuesday, the EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said that Israel has the right to defend itself, but its current actions go beyond proportionate self-defence.
So what steps might Western countries take against Israel, and has Israel’s latest Gaza onslaught forced them to change their position? Here is what you need to know:
What did the UK, France and Canada say?
The countries’ three leaders criticised Israel’s renewed Gaza offensive, while describing the “human suffering” of Palestinians in the coastal enclave as “intolerable”.
They also said that Israel’s announcement of letting some aid in was “wholly inadequate”.
“If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response,” the leaders’ statement said.
“The Israeli Government’s denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law.
“We condemn the abhorrent language used recently by members of the Israeli Government, threatening that, in their despair at the destruction of Gaza, civilians will start to relocate. Permanent forced displacement is a breach of international humanitarian law.”
The three Western leaders said that while they supported Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s attack on October 7, “this escalation is wholly disproportionate”.
“We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions,” they said.
On Tuesday, the UK announced it would suspend trade talks with Israel over the Gaza war. It also imposed sanctions on settlers and organisations backing violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.
Israel’s conduct in its war on Gaza and the government’s support for illegal settlements is “damaging our relationship with your government”, said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.
Amid intense international pressure, Israeli authorities on Monday cleared nine aid trucks to enter Gaza, where harsh restrictions on food and aid have sparked accusations that Israel is using starvation as a weapon of war.
However, the United Nations’ relief chief Tom Fletcher called the entry of the trucks a “drop in the ocean”, adding that “significantly more aid must be allowed into Gaza”.
Fletcher on Tuesday warned that 14,000 Palestinian babies were at risk of dying in the next 48 hours if aid doesn’t reach them – a figure he called “utterly chilling”. Some half a million people in Gaza, or one in five Palestinians, are facing starvation due to the Israeli blockade.
Starving Palestinians have resorted to eating animal feed and flour mixed with sand, highlighting acute suffering among the 2.3 million people in Gaza.
The UN humanitarian office’s spokesman Jens Laerke said on Tuesday that about 100 more trucks have been approved by Israel to enter Gaza.
Shifting their focus to the occupied West Bank, the leaders of the UK, France and Canada said they opposed all attempts to expand Israeli settlements, as they are “illegal and undermine the viability of a Palestinian state and the security of both Israelis and Palestinians”.
“We will not hesitate to take further action, including targeted sanctions,” they said.
Yara Hawari, co-director of Al-Shabaka, the Palestinian Policy Network, says the statement by the UK, Canada, and France is “reflective of states wanting to backtrack and try and cover up their complicity”, highlighting that the situation in Gaza is the “worst that it has ever been” and that “the genocide is reaching new levels of cruelty and inhumaneness”.
“They can point to the statement and say, you know, well, we did … stand up against it,” Hawari told Al Jazeera, adding that none have stopped arms sales to Israel.
Hawari specifically referenced the UK’s role, saying it was “particularly complicit in this”. “There are reports coming out every day on how many weapons have been transferred from the UK to Israel over the course of the last 19 months,” she said.
Displaced Palestinians flee from Khan Younis, Gaza, amid the ongoing Israeli military offensive in the area, on Monday, May 19, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
What else have Western nations said?
Sweden’s Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said on Tuesday that her country will push for EU sanctions against Israeli ministers because of insufficient steps to protect civilians in Gaza.
“Since we do not see a clear improvement for the civilians in Gaza, we need to raise the tone further. We will therefore now also push for EU sanctions against individual Israeli ministers,” Stenergard said in a statement.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot demanded that Israel’s “blind violence” and blockade of humanitarian assistance must come to an end.
On Monday, 24 countries, overwhelmingly European ones, issued a joint statement saying Israel’s decision to allow a “limited restart” of aid operations in Gaza must be followed by a complete resumption of unfettered humanitarian assistance.
It was signed by the foreign ministers of countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands and the UK.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s top diplomat, Kallas, has decided to order a review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, a free trade deal between the two regions.
Kallas told Al Jazeera that the Netherlands earlier this month had sought review of the Association Agreement, particularly Article 2 – which states that both parties must respect human rights.
The move has been backed by other member states, including Belgium, France, Portugal and Sweden.
Robert Patman, a professor of international relations at the University of Otago in New Zealand, says the recent criticism emanating from Western capitals was in part due to public pressure.
“I think there’s a sense that in liberal democracies, they can’t ultimately be indifferent to public concern about the situation … I think another factor is a perception among many countries that [US President Donald] Trump himself is getting impatient with the Netanyahu government,” he told Al Jazeera.
Patman explained that with many countries in the Global South having experienced colonialism before, they were quicker than the West to condemn Israel’s actions.
“They have a history of having to struggle for their own political self-determination, and given that experience, they can empathise with the Palestinians who’ve been denied the right,” he said.
Palestinian mourn their relatives who were killed in an Israeli army airstrike at the morgue of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah on May 20, 2025. [Abdel Kareem Hana/AP Photo]
How has Israel responded?
Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Monday criticised Carney, Macron and Starmer following their joint statement.
“By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottawa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on 7 October while inviting more such atrocities,” he posted on X.
By asking Israel to end a defensive war for our survival before Hamas terrorists on our border are destroyed and by demanding a Palestinian state, the leaders in London, Ottowa and Paris are offering a huge prize for the genocidal attack on Israel on October 7 while inviting more…
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) May 19, 2025
Meanwhile, Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich lashed out at the three leaders, saying his country “will not bow its head before this moral hypocrisy, antisemitism, and one-sidedness”.
In a post on X, Smotrich accused the three countries of “morally aligning themselves with a terrorist organisation”.
In particular, Smotrich took issue with the three countries saying they are “committed to recognising a Palestinian state”.
“They have gone so far as to seek to reward terrorism by granting it a state,” he said.
Netanyahu’s government and his far-right coalition partners have been vocal against the realisation of a sovereign Palestinian state despite broad international support for the so-called two-state solution.
What is ‘Operation Gideon’s Chariot’?
This major ground offensive, launched by Israel on the Gaza Strip on Sunday, came after days of intense bombardment that killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Since Sunday, more than 200 people have been killed in a relentless wave of strikes.
Major hospitals, including the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza, have been rendered nonoperational after attacks by Israeli forces. Medical professionals said it could lead to the deaths of thousands of sick and wounded people.
With the backing of Israel’s lethal air force, the operation is targeting both southern and northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said the offensive was launched to expand “operational control” in the Gaza Strip. Israel says its campaign also aims to free the remaining captives held in Gaza and defeat Hamas.
However, Netanyahu has been repeatedly criticised by segments of Israeli society, including captives’ families, for failing to prioritise their return. He has also rejected Hamas’s offers to end the war and free the captives.
Relatives of journalist Mohammed Amin Abu Dhaka, who was killed in Israeli attack on the town of Abasan al-Kebira, mourn after the body is taken from Nasser Hospital for funeral in Khan Yunis on May 20 [Hani Alshaer/Anadolu Agency]
How will the Western actions impact Israel, and what’s next?
Andreas Krieg, senior lecturer at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London, said that the threats from the UK, France and Canada against Israel set a precedent for other Western governments to emulate.
“While it will not have a direct impact on Israel’s behaviour on the ground, it widens the boundaries of discourse internationally and makes it easier for other governments to openly stand against Israeli atrocities,” he told Al Jazeera.
“Key to a change of behaviour in Israel, however, remains the United States,” he said. The US supplies the bulk of arms to Israel as well as providing diplomatic cover at the United Nations.
“Yet, there is a tangible erosion of consensus at play internationally as to the perception of Israel, which taints Israel increasingly as a rogue actor,” Krieg said.
Husam Zomlot, the Palestinian ambassador to the UK, told Al Jazeera that the “number one” thing the three countries could do was impose an arms embargo on Israel. “The UK has taken some measures to suspend some arms exports. It’s not enough. It has got to be full and comprehensive,” he said.
Zomlot also said that the states should act to ensure that “war criminals” were “held accountable”. “They must absolutely support our efforts at the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice,” he said.
Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant face ICC arrest warrant for war crimes, but some European nations have said that they won’t arrest them.
Francesca Albanese, the UN’s special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territories, questioned how the threatened sanctions would be targeted.
“Targeting whom? You need to impose sanctions on the state. It’s not about the prime minister. This is the entire government enterprise,” she told Al Jazeera.
Krieg from King’s College London says the reputational damage will affect Israel far beyond the current war in Gaza.
“It will be difficult to build consensus in the future around the narrative that Israel is an ‘ally’ because it is ‘the only democracy in the Middle East’,” he told Al Jazeera.
Brussels and London acting ‘in concert’ after Trump failed to secure ceasefire promise from Putin.
The European Union and the United Kingdom have announced coordinated packages of sanctions against Russia in a bid to ramp up pressure on President Vladimir Putin to end the war against Ukraine, as diplomatic momentum to reach a ceasefire accelerates.
The packages, which were unveiled Tuesday, will see both the EU and the UK taking aim at Russia’s so-called shadow fleet of oil tankers that illicitly transport oil to circumvent Western restrictions, with Brussels targeting 189 ships.
The UK’s wide-ranging package will also target the supply chains of Russian weapons systems, including Iskander missiles, Kremlin-funded information operations, and financial institutions that help Russia evade sanctions.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said an 18th package of sanctions was already being prepared by the EU, to follow the newly adopted 17th, with further meaningful measures.
“It’s time to intensify the pressure on Russia to bring about the ceasefire,” she posted on X, after a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull noted that the EU and UK were “acting in concert”, simultaneously releasing the new sanctions after sealing a new defence and security pact during reset talks in London the previous day.
Responding to the sanctions, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday that Russia would never bow to ultimatums from anyone, adding that it was clear Europe wanted to re-arm Ukraine to continue the war.
The coordinated action came a day after United States President Donald Trump failed to secure a promise for a ceasefire in Ukraine from Putin in the pair’s highly anticipated phone call on Monday – without any corresponding steps from Washington, despite intense lobbying from European leaders and Zelenskyy.
‘Buying time’
Eager to set the terms, Putin said after the call that Moscow was ready to work with Ukraine on a memorandum about a future peace accord, saying that discussions on the memorandum would include the principles of a settlement and the timing and definitions of a possible ceasefire.
The Kremlin’s Zakharova told reporters “the ball is in Kyiv’s court,” adding that she hoped Ukraine would take a constructive position on the proposed memorandum for the sake of its own “self-preservation”.
Zelenskyy said on Telegram on Tuesday that it was “obvious that Russia is trying to buy time to continue the war and occupation”.
“We are working with partners to put pressure on the Russians to behave differently,” he added, in an apparent reference to further international sanctions on Russia.
After announcing their measures, Brussels and London both suggested that more sanctions could follow, and France’s Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot called for further action to “push Vladimir Putin to put an end to his imperialist fantasy”.
Germany’s Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said: “Putin is clearly playing for time; unfortunately we have to say Putin is not really interested in peace.”
The European Union has lifted all sanctions on Syria. The decision follows Donald Trump’s recent announcement than the US would also lift sanctions, as Syria’s new government looks to rebuild the country.
Sanctions were levied during the rule of Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.
European Union countries have given a green light to lifting all economic sanctions on Syria in a bid to help the war-torn country recover after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad, according to diplomats speaking to news agencies.
Ambassadors from the EU’s 27 member states struck a preliminary agreement for the move, which should be formally unveiled by foreign ministers meeting in Brussels later on Tuesday, diplomats said, noting that the final decision is up to ministers.
This follows an announcement by the United States last week that it is lifting sanctions on Damascus.
Reporting from the EU headquarters, Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra described the reported agreement to lift the sanctions as a “really significant” development.
“It’s first of all an acknowledgement that the EU recognises the authority which is operating now in Syria, and that there need to be more financial transactions to pave the way for the creation of financial stability and improve the living standards of the people in Syria,” he said.
Sanctions were levied during the rule of al-Assad in 2012 and 2013 and concern the transport, energy and the banking sectors, Ahelbarra said.
The country’s new leadership has urged the West to ease the restrictions to help Syria recover from years of despotic rule and civil war.
EU diplomats told AFP the agreement should see sanctions cutting Syrian banks off from the global system and freezing central bank assets lifted.
But diplomats said the bloc was intending to impose new individual sanctions on those responsible for stirring ethnic tensions, following deadly attacks targeting the Alawite minority.
Other measures targeting the al-Assad regime and prohibiting the sale of weapons or equipment that could be used to repress civilians were set to remain in place.
The latest move from the EU comes after its first step in February, suspending some sanctions on key Syrian economic sectors.
Officials said those measures could be reimposed if Syria’s new leaders break promises to respect the rights of minorities and move towards democracy.
In Syria, optimism abounds. The unexpected decision by United States President Donald Trump to lift sanctions on the country, announced in Riyadh on Tuesday, is a relief for Syrians. They hope that the move will reintegrate Syria into the global economy, and bring much-needed investment into a country trying to recover from more than 50 years of dynastic family rule, as well as a nearly 14-year-long war.
The impact of Trump’s statement, which he said would give Syria “a chance at greatness” after the December overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, had an almost immediate effect, as the Syrian pound strengthened against the US dollar by about 25 percent, in a boost to a country suffering through economic hardship.
“Lifting sanctions on Syria represents a fundamental turning point,” Ibrahim Nafi Qushji, an economist and banking expert, told Al Jazeera. “The Syrian economy will transition from interacting with developing economies to integrating with more developed ones, potentially significantly reshaping trade and investment relations.”
Complex sanctions
While the announcement will likely lead to some imminent progress, there are still some stumbling blocks to the sanctions removal, analysts and experts told Al Jazeera.
US sanctions on Syria date back to 1979, when the country was under the iron grip of President Hafez al-Assad – Bashar’s father – and designated a “state sponsor of terrorism”. In the intervening years, additional sanctions were placed on the state and individuals associated with both the regime and the opposition, including current President Ahmed al-Sharaa – a result of his former association with al-Qaeda.
“There’s an entire building of a complex gamut of sanctions,” Vittorio Maresca di Serracapriola, sanctions lead analyst for Karam Shaar Advisory Limited, a consulting company with a focus on the political economy of the Middle East, told Al Jazeera.
Analysts said that Trump could remove certain sanctions through executive order, while some “foreign terrorist organisation” (FTO) designations could be removed by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. But other sanctions may be more complicated to end.
According to Maresca di Serracapriola, there are also a series of export controls, executive orders that target the banking sector, and acts that were passed by the US Congress.
“It is a huge moment for the country,” Maresca di Serracapriola said. “Of course, sanctions are very technical and complicated tools, so it’s still unclear how the US government will be able to implement what it promised.”
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa greets Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, as US President Donald Trump looks on [Bandar Aljaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AP]
There are also questions about the timeline. The economic situation for many Syrians is dire, with 90 percent of the population living in poverty and approximately 25 percent jobless, according to the United Nations. The new Syrian authority is under extreme economic pressure, while at times struggling to exert its authority and provide security around the country.
Trump’s decision will come as a welcome reprieve, but Syrians may have to wait for sanctions relief to take effect. Analysts said the changes would come gradually and could take up to a year before “tangible results” are seen.
Sanctions relief alone will also not be enough. Analysts noted that Syria still needs banking reforms to comply and get off international monitoring lists. There will also need to be incentives from the US and other international actors to build trust among private investors looking to invest in Syria’s future.
“Achieving long-term growth requires implementing internal economic reforms, including improving the business environment, enhancing financial transparency, and developing productive sectors to ensure the Syrian economy effectively benefits from global opportunities,” Qushji said. “Lifting economic sanctions on Syria is a first step toward restructuring the economy, but it requires reform policies focused on sustainable development and global economic integration to ensure a real and productive recovery.”
Trump meets al-Sharaa
For months, everyone from Syria’s new leadership, analysts, and internationalactors has said there is a dire need for sanctions relief. But the US has previously taken an inflexible stance against al-Sharaa’s government, due to perceived ties to violence and armed groups.
Regional powers like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkiye, however, have built strong relations with the new government in Damascus. Before Trump’s pronouncement on Tuesday, multiple analysts told Al Jazeera they did not expect Syria’s sanctions relief to be high up on the agenda for the US or the Gulf states Trump visited during his three-country tour.
The US has taken a cautious, and at times conflicting, approach to Syria’s new authority since the fall of the Assad regime on December 8.
On March 9, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned Syria’s new government for their failure to prevent sectarian violence and massacres in the country’s coastal region. But then, three days later, Rubio praised the agreement between the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian central government in Damascus that ostensibly would see the SDF integrate into state institutions.
Previously, the US provided Syria a list of demands that included destroying the remaining chemical weapons, cooperation on “counterterrorism”, and the removal of foreign fighters from senior roles in the new government or military. There have also been suggestions that Syria might throw in a Trump Tower deal in Damascus and that Trump wanted ties between Syria and Israel before any sanctions relief.
But by Tuesday evening, everything had changed. Trump announced he would remove sanctions on Syria without conditions.
“The key emphasis here is it’s a Saudi-US deal rather than something between the US and Syria,” Rob Geist Pinfold, a lecturer in defence studies at King’s College in London.
Syrians took to the streets to celebrate the announcement on Tuesday evening [Ghaith Alsayed/AP]
Then, on Wednesday morning, Trump and al-Sharaa met for a little more than half an hour in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and with Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan phoning in. The meeting appeared to please Trump.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on his way to Doha, Trump called al-Sharaa a “young, attractive guy. Tough guy. Strong past. Very strong past. Fighter.”
After the talks, the White House released a list of issues Trump discussed with al-Sharaa. They included some of the US’s prior demands on Syria, such as dealing with foreign fighters and “counterterrorism” cooperation. But Trump also brought up Syria recognising Israel, as well as taking over ISIL detention centres in northern Syria.
“These don’t appear to be preconditions, but they could slowroll the lifting [of sanctions],” Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Al Jazeera.
People celebrate in Damascus’s Umayyad Square after US President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions in Syria, on May 13, 2025 [Abdulaziz Ketaz/AFP]
The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday sanctioned two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators for what it said were roles in coordinating financial transfers to the group.
Hezbollah spokesman Mohammad Afif speaks in front of a portrait of late Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah, during a press conference in south Beirut, on Monday on November 11, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. File Photo by Fadel Itani/UPI | License Photo
May 15 (UPI) — The U.S. Treasury Department Thursday sanctioned two senior Hezbollah officials and two financial facilitators for what it said were roles in coordinating financial transfers to the group.
“Today’s action underscores Hezbollah’s extensive global reach through its network of terrorist donors and supporters, particularly in Tehran,” said Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Michael Faulkender in a statement. “As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”
Treasury sanctioned Mu’in Daqiq Al-‘Amili as a senior Hezbollah official involved in coordinating the delivery of cash from Iran to senior Hezbollah officials in Lebanon.
Jihad Alami was sanctioned for allegedly receiving and distributing the funding.
Treasury said following the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, Amili “coordinated the delivery of at least $50,000 to Alami in Lebanon, which was collected from Iran likely for onward transfer to Gaza.”
Fadi Nehme, described by Treasury as an accountant and business partner of Hezbollah’s Chief of its Central Finance Unit, was also sanctioned as an alleged Hezbollah financial facilitator.
Treasury said Senior Hezbollah official Hasan Abdallah Ni’mah was sanctioned for his alleged role in funding and networking for Hezbollah across Africa. That included managing millions of dollars in transactions, according to the Treasury.
“As of August 2022, Ni’mah coordinated the delivery of hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars to the Hezbollah-aligned Islamic Movement of Nigeria,” the Treasury said in a statement. “Ni’mah has had longstanding connections with senior Hizballah leaders, including the now-deceased Hezbollah Secretary General Nasrallah.”
The Treasury Department said it will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”
Treasury’s Faulkender said in a statement, “As part of our ongoing efforts to address Iran’s support for terrorism, Treasury will continue to intensify economic pressure on the key individuals in the Iranian regime and its proxies who enable these deadly activities.”
May 14 (UPI) — For a third straight day, the United States on Wednesday issued sanctions targeting Iran as the Trump administration attempts to negotiate a new nuclear arms deal with the Middle Eastern country.
The punitive measures imposed by the Treasury Department are secondary sanctions, meaning those aimed and punishing third parties for dealing with previously designated entities, individuals and countries.
The sanctions target six individuals and 12 entities in China and Iran accused of aiding Tehran source the manufacturing of critical materials used in the Islamic state’s ballistic missile program, specifically carbon fiber materials used in the construction of intercontinental rockets.
The State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce explained in a statement that Iran is “heavily reliant on China to conduct its malign activities in the Middle East.”
“The United States cannot allow Iran to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
“The Iranian regime’s relentless and irresponsible pursuit of advanced ballistic missile capabilities, including its efforts to indigenize its production capacity, represents an unacceptable threat to the United States and the stability of the region.”
The sanctions are the third batch of Iran-targeted punitive measures that the Trump administration has imposed this week as it engages in negotiations with Iran on a new agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from securing a nuclear weapon — a goal long held by President Donald Trump.
In 2018, during his first term in the White House, Trump slapped sanctions on Iran and unilaterally pulled the United States from a landmark Obama-era multinational accord, calling it “defective at its core.”
He pursued a so-called maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and other punitive measures, but failed to coerce Iran back to the negotiating table, and it instead advanced its nuclear weapons capability to the point the U.S. government estimated in 2022 that it would need just a week to produce enough weapons-grade highly-enriched uranium for a nuclear weapon.
In February, Trump reinstated his maximum pressure policy, which includes the recent batches of further sanctions.
The United States and Iran have had four recent negotiations on a new deal, but there does not appear to be a fifth round scheduled yet.
Trump administration officials have said a deal would see Iran dismantle its three enrichment facilities, but Iranian officials have said it will not stop enriching uranium but would be open to restrictions.
Trump is in the Middle East this week for a four-day trip, and has repeatedly voiced optimism that a deal can be made.
“I have a feeling it’s going to work out. I think it’s going to work. It’s got to work out, one way or the other we know it’s going to work out,” Trump said during a press conference Wednesday in Doha, Qatar.
“One way or the other. It’s very simple. It’s going to happen one way or the other. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, we will either do it friendly, or we will do it very unfriendly, and that won’t be pleasant,” he said.
The Trump administration has said it has sanctioned more than 250 people, entities and vessels related to Iran and its proxies since February.
Celebrations broke out across Syria after President Donald Trump said the United States would lift sanctions on the country.
The Syrian foreign ministry on Tuesday welcomed Trump’s announcement, calling it a “pivotal turning point for the Syrian people, as we seek to emerge from a long and painful chapter of war”.
“The removal of those sanctions offers a vital opportunity for Syria to pursue stability, self-sufficiency, and meaningful national reconstruction, led by and for the Syrian people,” it said in a statement.
In a speech given in Riyadh, the US president said he “will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness”.
US sanctions have isolated Syria from the global financial system and imposed a range of economic restrictions on the government over more than a decade of war in the country.
The lingering sanctions have widely been seen as a major obstacle to Syria’s economic recovery and post-war reconstruction.
Syrians met the news with joy and celebration, with dozens of men, women and children gathering in Damascus’s Umayyad Square. They blasted music while others drove by in their cars, waving Syrian flags.
“My joy is great, this decision will definitely affect the entire country positively. Construction will return, the displaced will return and prices will go down,” said Huda Qassar, a 33-year-old English language teacher, celebrating with her compatriots.
In the northern province of Idlib, Bassam al-Ahmed, 39, said he was very happy about the announcement.
“It is the right of the Syrian people, after 14 years of war and 50 years of the Assads’ oppression, to live through stability and safety,” he said.
Mazloum Abdi, also known as Mazloum Kobani, the leader of the US-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, welcomed the decision, saying he hopes it “will be invested in supporting stability and reconstruction, ensuring a better future for all Syrians”.
The United States on Tuesday announced another round of sanctions targeting Iran as it tries to negotiate a new nuclear weapons deal with the Middle Eastern country. File Photo by Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA-EFE
May 14 (UPI) — The United States has imposed additional Iran-related sanctions, as the Trump administration negotiates with Tehran on a new nuclear weapons deal.
The sanctions announced Tuesday by the U.S. Treasury target an Iranian oil smuggling network the Trump administration accuses of generating billions of dollars for the Tehran regime’s military and proxy forces.
Fifteen front companies, buyers and facilitators in Hong Kong, mainland China, the Seychelles and Singapore were hit by the punitive measures, along with 52-year-old Iranian national Mohammad Khorasani Niasari and two shipping vessels.
The secondary sanctions were levied due to their links to Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, which the previous Biden administration blacklisted in November 2023 for overseeing the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff’s network of front companies that it uses to sell commodities, including oil, internationally — funds that are used to further Iran’s weapons and nuclear programs and other destabilizing activities.
According to Treasury officials Sepehr Energy obfuscates the origin of these oil shipments through a series of deals involving between multiple front companies it owns. Some of the entities that were blacklisted Tuesday were established in China and Hong Kong.
Among the tactics deployed to conceal the oil’s Iranian origin is the use of ship-to-ship transfers at sea before the cargo reaches China. Once in the country, Sepehr Energy relies on complicit local agencies willing to aid their sanctioned sales.
Khorasani is a financial inspector for Sepehr Energy and its affiliates and was sanctioned Tuesday for helping to manage the Iranian Armed Forces General Staff’s transactions.
“As long as Iran devotes its illicit revenues to funding attacks on the United States and our allies, supporting terrorism around the world and pursuing other destabilizing actions, we will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to hold the regime accountable,” State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a statement.
The sanctions are the latest the Trump administration has imposed since early February when President Donald Trump resumed his so-called maximum pressure policy from his first term — an effort that failed to coerce Iran into returning to the negotiating table for a new nuclear weapons deal.
During his first term in office, Trump imposed sanctions against Iran and unilaterally withdrew the United States from a landmark Obama-era multinational nuclear accord aimed at preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Trump applied his maximum pressure campaign of sanctions and political pressure to force Tehran to negotiate a new deal he believed would be better. Instead, the Middle Eastern country ignored its obligations under the accord and escalated its nuclear weapons program to the point where the U.S. government estimates Iran could need as little as a week to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a single nuclear bomb.
However, talks about a new nuclear deal between the two countries have resumed during the Trump’s second term, with State Department deputy spokesperson Tommy Pigott telling reporters in at a Washington press conference on Tuesday that the negotiations “continue to show progress.”
There have been four rounds of informal talks with the fifth round yet to be scheduled.
Trump, speaking in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, called on Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions and accept “a much better path toward a far better and more hopeful future” or expect consequences. The United States under administration of both Democrats and Republicans have said they will not permit Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.
“I want to make a deal with Iran,” Trump said. “This is an offer that will not last forever. The time is right now to choose. We don’t have a lot of time to wait.”
The Trump administration is demanding that Iran discontinue its uranium enrichment program and dismantle its facilities. Iran has said it will not compromise on its enrichment capabilities.
On Monday, after the United States blacklisted three Iranians and a related technology firm involved in nuclear weapons research, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi suggested there was a possibility of negotiating on its enrichment allotments.
For a limited period of time, we can accept a series of restrictions on the level and volume of enrichment,” he said, state-run Press TV reported.
“We have not yet gone into details about the level and volume of enrichment.”
According to the Treasury, since Trump announced the resumption of his maximum pressure campaign, the United States has sanctioned 253 individuals, entities and vessels related to Iran and its proxies.
United States President Donald Trump has announced that US sanctions on Syria will be lifted, in a huge boost to the government in Tehran, which took power after the overthrow of longtime leader Bashar al-Assad in December.
“There’s a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilising the country and keeping peace,” Trump said in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, the first of a three-day visit to the Middle East, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. “I will be ordering the cessation of sanctions against Syria in order to give them a chance at greatness.”
Trump is also expected to meet Syria’s president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, in Riyadh on Wednesday, in a further signal to the world that the international isolation of Syria should end.
In Syria, the news has been met with celebrations in the capital, Damascus, and elsewhere. There is hope the move will help turn around the country’s economy after more than a decade of war.
Let’s take a closer look.
What sanctions had been placed on Syria?
The US was just one of many countries that had placed sanctions on Syria during the former al-Assad regime, which governed the country from 1971 to 2024.
The US sanctions were wide-ranging. The US initially designated Syria a “State Sponsor of Terrorism” in 1979, which led to an arms embargo and financial restrictions, including on foreign assistance.
Further sanctions were imposed in 2004, including more arms export restrictions and limits on Syria’s economic interactions with the US.
After the war in Syria began in 2011, and al-Assad’s regime started attacking civilian antigovernment protesters, numerous other wide-ranging sanctions were imposed on Syria and regime-linked individuals. This included a freeze on Syrian government assets held abroad, a ban on US investments in Syria and restrictions on petroleum imports.
The US had also announced a $10m reward for the capture of Syria’s current leader, al-Sharaa, and listed Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the organisation he ran before its dissolution with the fall of al-Assad, as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization”.
Why was Syria under sanctions?
The main tranche of sanctions was imposed during the early years of Syria’s war, when the US was supporting the country’s opposition and attempting to isolate the al-Assad regime, pointing to its human rights abuses, including the use of chemical weapons.
The “terrorist” designation placed on Hayat Tahrir al-Sham was a result of its former association with al-Qaeda. This was one of the reasons there has been international wariness to remove sanctions on Syria even after the fall of al-Assad.
Why are they being lifted now?
Al-Sharaa has slowly been gaining international legitimacy for his government since it came to power in December. The US had already removed the reward for his capture, and the Syrian president has been able to travel internationally and meet world leaders, including in Saudi Arabia and France.
The new Syrian government has made a concerted effort to present itself as a moderate force that could be acceptable to the international community, including by distancing itself from designated “terrorist” groups, promising to cooperate with other countries on “counterterrorism” efforts and making statements supporting minority rights. The latter has been particularly important in light of sectarian fighting involving pro-government forces and minority groups after the fall of al-Assad.
The Reuters news agency also reported this week that Syria has attempted to convince the US that it is not a threat but a potential partner, including by saying it was engaged in indirect talks with Israel to deescalate tensions with the US’s Middle eastern ally – despite Israel’s bombing of Syria and occupation of its territory. There had also been talk of US-Syria business deals, even including a Trump Tower in Damascus.
Trump on Tuesday said that his decision to end the sanctions came after discussions with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
“Oh, what I do for the crown prince!” he said.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Omar Rahman, a fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs, said that US relationships with Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE – all countries that had been pushing for an end to sanctions and support for the new Syrian government – had been an integral part of Trump’s decision.
“This wasn’t something that was too difficult for Trump to do,” Rahman said. “He didn’t need to get permission from anybody. He didn’t even need consent from Congress.”
Will investment now pour into Syria?
Because of the central role the US plays in the global financial system, the lifting of sanctions is a signal to the world that it can do business in Syria.
The sanctions had been economically debilitating for Syria, and presented a huge impediment for the new government, which is under pressure to improve living standards in a country where unemployment and poverty levels are high, and electricity blackouts are common.
Whether the US itself invests in Syria remains to be seen, but increased Arab and Turkish investment is likely.
“[The removal of sanctions] takes away a key obstacle in [Syria’s] ability to establish some kind of economic development, economic prosperity,” Rahman told Al Jazeera. “But there are plenty of other obstacles and challenges the country is facing.”
