Senate Foreign Relations Committee Leaders Seek More Easing of Syria Sanctions
The leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee urged the Trump administration April 21 to give Syria additional sanctions relief to help stabilize the war-torn country.
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In a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the senators said the administration should “quickly reduce the sanctions risk for critical sectors such as agriculture, energy, power grid infrastructure, finance, telecommunications and education.”
The Treasury Department “has issued two general licenses to accommodate some needs, but time and geographic limitations have restricted the full utilization of the licenses,” the senators wrote. “We ask you to consider expanding these licenses to provide more time and geographic flexibility to those on the ground. In addition to expanding general licenses, you should consider short-term sanctions relief. These near-term actions would offer some immediate relief, increase liquidity in the market, and prevent immediate instability -- essential to achieving the conditions to advance U.S. interests."
General License No. 24, issued in early January after the fall of the country’s heavily sanctioned Bashar Assad regime, authorizes certain government, energy and personal remittance-related transactions with Syria until early July (see 2501060034). General License No. 22, issued in 2022, authorizes activities in certain economic sectors in parts of northeast and northwest Syria.
The senators said providing a broader or longer-term reduction in sanctions should depend on whether Syria's interim government addresses U.S. national security priorities, such as preventing Syria from becoming a launching pad for terrorist attacks and ensuring Iran and Russia do not remain in the country.
"Should the Syrian interim government demonstrate irreversible movement on core American interests, we would encourage the administration to drop further barriers to U.S. and international engagement, including fulsome sanctions relief," the senators wrote. "However, should the Syrian interim government fail to take action on American priorities, deeper economic and diplomatic isolation would follow."
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., a senior member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also have urged the administration to increase Syria’s sanctions relief (see 2503240050). A State Department official has said the government is considering such a move (see 2504170001).