Trump, Kicking Off First Foreign Trip of Second Presidency, Lifts Syria Sanctions, Conducts Business, and Signals New Direction on Mideast Policies

President Trump on Tuesday has pocketed deals worth billions of dollars for American companies while visiting Riyadh. He also all but adopted the Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s view of the Mideast future, and, as a gift to his host, announced the removal of American sanctions from Syria’s new regime. Mr. Trump also urged his host to make peace with Israel. “Oh what I do for the crown prince,” Mr. Trump said after telling an applauding crowd of elite Saudis that he would order an end to the “brutal and crippling” Syrian sanctions. The Saudi de-facto ruler, who is known as MbS, has lobbied on behalf of President al-Sharaa of Syria, who earlier has said he planned to build a “Trump Tower” in his country. Likely needing congressional approval, the sanctions removal was the most concrete measure announced by Mr. Trump in a speech that lasted almost an hour. Some of the aspirational notions in it, though, signal a new direction in America’s Mideast policies, and many of those resemble MbS’s ruling guidelines, known as his “Vision 2030.” Beyond the economic aspirations in that plan, it has led the crown prince to seek accommodations with neighbors. He ended an eight-year war with the Houthis, and even made overtures to the kingdom’s arch enemy, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Even as MbS shies from wars, much of his vision’s success depends on Tehran. Yet, rather than peace, Iran attacks enemies via proxies even as it seeks nuclear arms. In his speech, Mr. Trump used the most critical language to date to describe Iran’s malignant Mideast policies. “I don’t like permanent enemies,” he said, “but sometimes you need enemies to do the job.” Denouncing Tehran’s support for the Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas, he vowed that the mullahs will never obtain a nuclear weapon. The Iranians “have to make their move right now, one way or the other, make your move,” Mr. Trump said. If Tehran “rejects this olive branch and continues to attack their neighbors, then we will have no choice but to inflict massive maximum pressure, drive Iranian oil exports to zero like I did before.” Unlike in the past, though, the president declined to hint at a military option. Scoffing at past American attempts to reshape the Mideast, Mr. Trump said he trusted the Arabs to reach peace and prosperity on their own. “Too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,” he said. “It is God’s job to sit in judgment, my job to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace.”Mr. Trump marveled at the “towers” and new business opportunities in the Saudi kingdom, as well as in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, where he plans to visit next. “So-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” he said, “and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves. They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves.”He added that “peace, prosperity. and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly.” The crown prince said earlier that the Saudis would invest $600 billion in American businesses. Mr. Trump announced the $142 billion sale of a package of military equipment to Saudi Arabia. In one of the most significant deals, Riyadh unveiled a partnership with chipmaker Nvidia to develop artificial intelligence and strengthen cloud computing infrastructure. The crown prince’s “Vision 2030” aims to diversify the kingdom’s economy and end its reliance on oil.“All of your other industries now have surpassed oil,” Mr. Trump said in his speech. Oil, though, remains a crucial part of the Saudi economy, accounting for 40 percent of the country’s gross national product, and 55 percent of the government’s income. Despite multiple press reports that Mr. Trump’s trip will solely concentrate on business, he also during his speech urged the crown prince to make a peace deal with Israel. “It’s my fervent hope, wish, and even my dream,” he said, that Saudi Arabia “will soon be joining the Abraham Accords. I think it will be a tremendous tribute to your country, and it will be something that’s really going to be very important for the future of the Middle East.”

Trump, Kicking Off First Foreign Trip of Second Presidency, Lifts Syria Sanctions, Conducts Business, and Signals New Direction on Mideast Policies

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