Interim Syrian President Ahmad el-Chareh, in Damascus, on March 10, 2025. (Credit: Khalil Ashawi.)
Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa is willing to offer a Trump Tower in Damascus, a thaw with Israel, and U.S. access to Syrian oil and gas in exchange for a meeting with President Donald Trump during his Middle East trip, sources say.
Jonathan Bass, a pro-Trump American activist, who met Ahmad al-Sharaa for four hours in Damascus on April 30 with Syrian activists and Gulf states, is trying to organize a historic — albeit very unlikely — meeting between the two leaders this week, on the sidelines of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.
Bass hopes that getting Trump into a room with the new Syrian leader — still labeled a terrorist by the United States due to his past with al-Qaida — could help soften the Republican president and his administration's stance on Damascus, and ease a growingly strained relationship between Syria and Israel.
Syria struggles to meet Washington's conditions for an easing of U.S. sanctions, which keep it out of the global financial system and make economic recovery extremely difficult after 14 years of devastating war.
Part of Bass's bet relies on Trump’s history of breaking U.S. foreign policy taboos, like when he met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas in 2019. “Sharaa wants a business deal for his country’s future,” the American activist said, noting that it could include energy exploitation, cooperation against Iran, and engagement with Israel. “He told me he wanted a Trump Tower in Damascus. He wants peace with his neighbors. What he told me is good for the region, good for Israel,” Bass stated. Ahmad al-Sharaa also expressed, according to him, a personal connection with Trump: both have been targeted and narrowly survived assassination attempts.
Syrian officials and a media representative of the presidency did not respond to requests for comment. A person close to the Syrian president indicated that a Trump-Sharaa meeting remained possible in Saudi Arabia but did not confirm if the former Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) strongman had received an invitation. “It will only be possible to know if the meeting will happen at the last minute,” this source said.
Al-Sharaa spoke on Sunday with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to the Syrian presidency.
“An ongoing approach”
It should be noted here that a meeting between Trump and Sharaa during the American president's visit to the region is largely considered improbable, given Trump's busy schedule, his priorities, and the lack of consensus within his team on how to handle the Syrian issue.
A source aware of ongoing discussions indicated that a high-level meeting between the United States and Syria was supposed to take place in the region during the week of Trump’s visit, but it would not bring Trump and Sharaa together. “There is clearly an ongoing approach,” said Charles Lister, director of the Syria Initiative at the Middle East Institute. “The idea is that the best way is to address Trump directly, because there are simply too many ideologues in the administration to bypass.”
Washington has not yet formulated a coherent Syrian policy, but the administration increasingly seems to consider its relations with Damascus through the lens of counterterrorism, according to three sources, including a U.S official involved in policy development.
“Olive branch”
One of the key objectives of Syria's overtures to Washington is to demonstrate that it does not pose a threat to Israel, which has intensified its airstrikes in Syria since the former rebels turned leaders ousted the former strongman Bashar al-Assad last year. Israeli ground forces also occupy a portion of southwestern Syria.
Last week, Sharaa confirmed the existence of indirect negotiations with Israel aimed at easing tensions, after Reuters reported that such talks had occurred via the United Arab Emirates.
In a separate effort, Bass stated that the Syrian president asked him to relay messages between Syria and Israel, which could have led to a direct meeting between Israeli and Syrian officials. But Israel quickly resumed strikes, including one very close to the presidential palace, which it presented as a message to Syrian leaders to protect the country's Druze minority in the face of clashes with Sunni militants. “Sharaa extended an olive branch to the Israelis. Israel responded with missiles,” said the American activist. “We need Trump to help resolve this relationship.”
