US lifts all legal measures on Syrian diplomatic mission, embassy in Washington: Foreign minister

ISTANBUL

Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani announced Monday that the United States has lifted all legal measures previously imposed on the Syrian diplomatic mission and embassy in Washington, restoring Syria’s full ability to operate diplomatically on American soil.

“We have received an official decision signed by my friend, the US Secretary of State, lifting all legal measures previously imposed on the Syrian mission and the Embassy of the Syrian Republic by the United States of America,” al-Shaibani said on the US social media company X’s platform.

He added that this step marks the return of “Syria’s ability to freely carry out its diplomatic role in the US, in line with the Syrian Foreign Ministry’s strategic plan.”

The move comes shortly after Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s historic visit to the White House, where he met with President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance, marking the first visit by a Syrian president to the US in decades.

US legal restrictions on the Syrian embassy in Washington began in March 2014, when the Obama administration ordered the suspension of the embassy’s diplomatic and consular missions, citing Syria’s failure to cooperate with US authorities and the escalating civil war triggered by the Assad regime’s violent crackdown on protests that began in 2011.