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Trump Meets Syrian President, Urges Him to Establish Ties With Israel
US President Donald Trump meets with Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in this handout released on May 14, 2025. Photo: Saudi Press Agency/Handout via REUTERS
US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s president in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and urged him to normalize ties with longtime foe Israel after a surprise US announcement that it would lift all sanctions on the Islamist-led government.
Trump then flew to Qatar, where he oversaw the signing of a deal for the Gulf Arab country to buy jets from US manufacturer Boeing.
He did not mention a controversial separate offer by Qatar to donate a Boeing jet to serve as the US president‘s official airplane. That would be one of the most valuable gifts ever given to the United States and it has triggered alarm in Washington over its security and ethics implications.
After Trump‘s declaration that he would lift sanctions on Syria, which is seeking to rebuild after more than a decade of civil war, he met with interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa, who swept to power at the head of a group that Washington has called a terrorist organization and once pledged allegiance to al Qaeda.
According to the White House, Trump urged Sharaa to join the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Morocco, which normalized relations with Israel under the US-brokered Abraham Accords in 2020.
“I told him, ‘I hope you’re going to join when it’s straightened out.’ He said, ‘Yes.’ But they have a lot of work to do,” Trump said, according to a White House pool report.
Photos posted on Saudi state television showed the two men shaking hands in the presence of Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Trump said the meeting with Sharaa, who he described as a young, attractive guy with a very strong past, was “great.”
“He’s got a real shot at holding it together,” said Trump.
BUSINESS DEALS
Trump‘s four-day visit highlights the United States’ growing ties to the oil-rich region, where his real-estate company is also developing several projects.
That has raised concerns about a conflict of interest between Trump‘s official duties as president and his business interests.
Trump has dismissed ethical concerns about his plan to accept the $400 million luxury plane from Qatar to serve as Air Force One, saying on Monday it would be “stupid” to turn down the generous offer.
Qatar has been working to build up political capital with Trump in his second term after falling the wrong side of the US president when he was first in office.
In 2017, during Trump‘s first term, the tiny but hugely wealthy gas producer was isolated by a diplomatic, trade and air embargo imposed by Gulf states and some other Arab nations which accused Doha of backing terrorism and getting too close to Iran. At the time, Trump‘s administration sided with Doha’s rivals.
In Doha, Trump and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani announced deals that the White House said were worth $1.2 trillion. That included an agreement by Qatar Airways to buy Boeing aircraft and GE Aerospace engines.
Trump said the two leaders discussed Iran and the Ukraine-Russia war. “We always had a very special relationship,” Trump said of the emir.
Trump‘s visit to Saudi Arabia brought a $600 billion commitment from the kingdom to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.
ISRAELI WORRIES
Trump‘s Middle East trip – which does not include a visit to Jerusalem – has fueled doubts in Israel about where the country stands in Washington’s priorities.
Syria is one of Israel‘s biggest foes, and Israeli officials have continued to describe Sharaa as a jihadist, though he severed ties with al Qaeda in 2016. Sharaa first joined the group in Iraq, where he spent five years in a US prison. The United States removed a $10 million bounty on his head in December.
Israel opposes lifting sanctions on Syria, which would clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organizations and boost foreign investment. Israel has escalated military strikes in Syria since Sharaa took power after toppling former President Bashar al-Assad in December.
Trump‘s administration is also holding nuclear talks with its other enemy, Iran.
The Israeli prime minister’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump told reporters the fact he has relationships with countries in the Middle East is “very good for Israel.”
The US also hopes regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia will join the Abraham Accords, but discussions came to a halt after the Gaza war erupted and the kingdom insists there can be no normalization without Palestinian statehood.
The post Trump Meets Syrian President, Urges Him to Establish Ties With Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘With or Without Russia’s Help’: Iran Pledges to Block South Caucasus Route Opened Up By Peace Deal
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 8, 2025. Photo: Kevin Lamarque via Reuters Connect.
i24 News – Iran will block the establishment of a US-backed transit corridor in the South Caucasus region with or without Moscow’s help, a senior adviser to Iran’s supreme leader was quoted as saying on Saturday by the Iran International website, one day after the historic peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“Mr. Trump thinks the Caucasus is a piece of real estate he can lease for 99 years,” Ali Akbar Velayati said of the so-called Zangezur corridor, the establishment of which is stipulated in the peace deal unveiled on Friday by US President Donald Trump. The White House said the transit route would facilitate greater exports of energy and other resources.
“This passage will not become a gateway for Trump’s mercenaries — it will become their graveyard,” the Khamenei advisor added.
Baku and Yerevan have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh, a mountainous Azerbaijani region mostly populated by ethnic Armenians, broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia. Azerbaijan took back full control of the region in 2023, prompting or forcing almost all of the territory’s 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia.
Yet that painful history was put to the side on Friday at the White House, as Trump oversaw a signing ceremony, flanked by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
The peace deal with Azerbaijan—a pro-Western ally of Israel—is expected to pull Armenia out of the Russian and Iranian sphere of influence and could transform the South Caucasus, an energy-producing region neighboring Russia, Europe, Turkey and Iran.
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UK Police Arrest 150 at Protest for Banned Palestine Action Group
People holding signs sit during a rally organised by Defend Our Juries, challenging the British government’s proscription of “Palestine Action” under anti-terrorism laws, in Parliament Square, in London, Britain, August 9, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jaimi Joy
London’s Metropolitan Police said on Saturday it had arrested 150 people at a protest against Britain’s decision to ban the group Palestine Action, adding it was making further arrests.
Officers made arrests after crowds, waving placards expressing support for the group, gathered in Parliament Square, the force said on X.
Protesters, some wearing black and white Palestinian scarves, chanted “shame on you” and “hands off Gaza,” and held signs such as “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action,” video taken by Reuters at the scene showed.
In July, British lawmakers banned Palestine Action under anti-terrorism legislation after some of its members broke into a Royal Air Force base and damaged planes in protest against Britain’s support for Israel.
The ban makes it a crime to be a member of the group, carrying a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison.
The co-founder of Palestine Action, Huda Ammori, last week won a bid to bring a legal challenge against the ban.
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‘No Leniency’: Iran Announces Arrest of 20 ‘Zionist Agents’
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi addresses a special session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, June 20, 2025. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
i24 News – Iranian authorities have in recent months arrested 20 people charged with being “Israeli Mossad operatives,” the judiciary said, adding that the Islamic regime will mete out the harshest punishments.
“The judiciary will show no leniency toward spies and agents of the Zionist regime, and with firm rulings, will make an example of them all,” spokesperson Asghar Jahangiri told Iranian media. However, it is understood that an unspecified number of detainees were released, apparently after the charges against them could not be substantiated.
The Islamic Republic was left reeling by a devastating 12-day war with Israel earlier in the summer that left a significant proportion of its military arsenal in ruins and dealt a serious setback to its uranium enrichment program. The fallout included an uptick in executions of Iranians convicted of spying for Israel, with at least eight death sentences carried out in recent months. Hit with international sanctions, the country is in dire economic straights, with frequent energy outages and skyrocketing unemployment.
In recent weeks Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi affirmed that Tehran cannot give up on its nuclear enrichment program even as it was severely damaged during the war.
“It is stopped because, yes, damages are serious and severe. But obviously we cannot give up of enrichment because it is an achievement of our own scientists. And now, more than that, it is a question of national pride,” the official told Fox News.