Trump Meets Syrian Leader, Pledges to Pursue State Sponsor Removal

A White House meeting with Syria's post-Assad government signals a potential shift in U.S. designation policy that carries significant sanctions and diplomatic consequences.

President Donald Trump stated on Wednesday, July 2, 2026, that his administration would work to remove Syria's designation as a State Sponsor of Terrorism, according to reporting by the Daily Caller citing remarks made during a White House meeting between Trump and Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa. Syria has held the State Sponsor of Terrorism designation from the U.S. State Department continuously since 1979, a status that triggers broad sanctions prohibitions under 22 U.S.C. § 2371 and restricts U.S. foreign assistance, arms sales, and certain financial transactions with the designated country.

The meeting marks the first publicly confirmed White House engagement between a sitting U.S. president and al-Sharaa, who rose to power following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government in late 2024. Al-Sharaa previously led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an organization the State Department designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization; that designation's current status as of this reporting is not confirmed as rescinded in available State Department public records.

Removing a State Sponsor of Terrorism designation requires the Secretary of State to certify to Congress that the country has not supported international terrorism for the preceding six months, or that a fundamental change in leadership or policy has occurred, per 22 U.S.C. § 2371(b). Congress then has 45 days to block the rescission through a joint resolution. No such certification has been publicly filed with Congress as of July 8, 2026, according to available congressional records.

The administration has not publicly detailed what conditions Syria would need to meet, what timeline it envisions, or what interagency review process is underway. A formal State Department notification to Congress, required under 22 U.S.C. § 2371(b), would be the authoritative public record confirming any official move toward rescission. The White House did not release a joint statement from the meeting as of the publication of this article.

What remains unknown: whether the State Department has initiated a formal review of Syria's designation, whether al-Sharaa's Hayat Tahrir al-Sham designation has been or is being separately reviewed, and what specific benchmarks, if any, the administration has communicated to Syrian officials. The State Department's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism would be the agency responsible for any formal designation review, and a published Federal Register notice or congressional notification would confirm that a process is underway.