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Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the rescission of Syria’s designation as a state sponsor of terrorism after completion of the mandatory 45-day congressional review period that began with notification in July. The US State Department stated the action recognizes positive steps by the Syrian government under President Ahmed al-Sharaa including formally joining the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in November 2025 and operations targeting ISIS al-Qaida Hezbollah and Iran-aligned networks. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the move will foster additional investment to promote political and economic stability in line with President Trump’s commitment to sanctions relief.
The designation had been in place since 1979 when the United States accused the government of Hafez al-Assad of supporting militant groups according to a congressional research service report. A Reuters dispatch noted that the decision also removed the Nusrah Front also known as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham from its designation as a specially designated global terrorist organization. Newsweek reported that Iran Cuba and North Korea remain the only countries on the US list of state sponsors of terrorism.
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani greeted the announcement as a historic step according to the state-run news agency SANA. Central Bank governor Safwat Raslan posted on X that the delisting constitutes a historic step restoring the country to its natural place in the global economic system while the bank works to build a modern financial framework. Finance Minister Mohammed Barnieh described the development as a major diplomatic success that opens doors to global integration investment and technology per SANA.
US special envoy Tom Barrack characterized the removal as a decisive step in Syria’s journey from isolation to partnership and from a source of terrorism to a committed partner in countering it. The Treasury Department emphasized that the action builds on an executive order issued in June 2025 that terminated the comprehensive Syria sanctions program and directed reviews of related measures. A State Department advisory highlighted that the United States no longer maintains comprehensive sanctions on Syria or its institutions removing barriers to most business activity.
The World Bank has estimated reconstruction costs for Syria at 216 billion dollars according to multiple reports citing the scale of damage from years of conflict. Al Jazeera reported that Syria recently received a 100 million dollar World Bank grant for financial sector modernization while its central bank reactivated an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in March. Economic analysts told SANA that the delisting should ease banking isolation reduce compliance costs for trade and encourage correspondent banks to resume operations with Syrian entities.
The Trump administration had progressively eased measures over the preceding year including revocation of HTS’s foreign terrorist organization status in July 2025 and delisting of Sharaa as a specially designated global terrorist in November 2025. A bipartisan group of US lawmakers had urged the delisting arguing that the prior legal grounds no longer applied and that the label continued to hinder economic recovery. The National quoted analysts noting that while targeted sanctions on certain individuals and groups remain the removal of the state-level designation significantly improves prospects for foreign direct investment and reconstruction financing.
