by Leo Hohmann, Leo’s Newsletter:
How US State Department’s list of ‘state sponsors of terrorism’ depends not on a nation’s support of terrorism but its willingness to conform to US foreign policy priorities related to oil and money.
The hypocritical and utter fraudulent nature of U.S. foreign policy is again on full display as the U.S. State Department under Secretary of State Marco Rubio is posturing to lift all remaining economic sanctions on Syria’s new Islamist government and remove it from its list of state sponsors of terrorism.
This proves once again that the U.S. penchant for punishing countries economically has absolutely nothing to do with terrorism or tyranny in those countries and everything to do with money and hegemony.
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The new regime in Damascus is headed by former al-Qaeda terrorist Ahmed al-Sharaa, who President Trump entertained at the White House earlier this year and called a “young attractive guy” who is “pretty amazing.”
Al-Sharaa’s hardline Sunni Islamist government, which took over Syria in a U.S./Israeli-supported coup in December 2024 following years of civil war, has killed hundreds of Christians, Druze and Alawite Shia Muslims.
According to a March 31, 2026 report by the Gatestone Institute:
Following al-Sharaa’s December 2024 seizure of power in Syria, persecution of religious minorities, including Christians, Druze and Alawites, has skyrocketed as the country undergoes a process of radical Islamization.
So, what changed so significantly that the Syrian regime is suddenly in the good graces of Washington and no longer considered a terrorist nation?
Well, for one thing the new Syrian regime is seen as less of a threat to Israel, but the clincher is that he’s also agreed to stop buying oil from Russia. In short, the Syrian regime has agreed to join the Western, dollar-dominated financial system.
Reuters reports:
Damascus has agreed to drastically reduce imports of Russian oil as part of its ongoing discussions with the United States on lifting the last major sanctions designation on Syria, three sources familiar with the conversations told Reuters.
Such a reduction would represent a major shift in energy policy in Syria, which has become heavily reliant on Russian oil despite a political pivot to the West, and raises the question of how Syria would plug the hole left behind.
It would also be a new way for the U.S. to exert pressure on Russia’s economic sway in the country, experts say.
In recent months, senior Syrian officials have told the U.S. they are willing to reduce Russian oil imports as they discussed Washington removing Syria from a decades-old list of state sponsors of terrorism, according to a Syrian source with direct knowledge of the conversations, a U.S. official and another source briefed on the matter.
So there you have it. Slapping the “terrorism” label on foreign countries and punishing them with crippling economic sanctions has absolutely nothing to do with actual terrorism. It’s all about playing ball with the U.S. agenda to deliver a black eye to Russia and send more profits to Western corporations.
