US President Donald Trump says he’s ready to ease sanctions on Syria. He won’t be able to do it quickly. The American leader sat down with Syrian counterpart Ahmed Al-Sharaa in Riyadh on Wednesday — the first meeting between heads of the two countries in 25 years — after unexpectedly saying he would drop all sanctions against the war-ravaged country and even look to normalize relations.

The seismic foreign policy shift toward Syria isn’t without warnings from both sides of the aisle that the Trump administration will need Congress’s help.

President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday, May 13, that he plans to end the U.S. sanctions imposed on Syria, which have been in place for over 45 years. Announcing the news on the first day of his Middle East tour,