Still, dismantling the punishing sanctions regime will take some time. Repealing the most restrictive will take an act of Congress. And as Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator, pointed out, Congress will want to see evidence that Syria is no longer a state sponsor of terrorism.

The meeting came after Trump—who is in the middle of a three-country tour of the Middle East—delivered a speech on Tuesday in which he announced his plan to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria in support of "a new government that will hopefully succeed in stabilizing the country and keeping peace.”