President Donald Trump’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria was a smart gamble for a president with historic ambitions. On Tuesday in Saudi Arabia, Trump announced that he will lift all sanctions on Syria, many of which have been in place for decades. Then, on Wednesday, he met Syrian President Ahmed al Sharaa, the first encounter between an American president and a Syrian counterpart in a quarter-century. Though not without risks, Trump’s move to normalize relations between the United States and the war-torn country could secure long-term strategic interests and reshape a region long beset by chaos.

Crucially, the move signals Trump’s determination to prevent Iran from reasserting its influence following Israel’s punishing military campaigns against Iranian proxies. Tehran spent tens of billions of dollars propping up the Bashar Assad regime to maintain its land bridge to Lebanon, without which the prospect of rebuilding Hamas and Hezbollah grows drastically more difficult. Syria aligning with the U.S. and moderate Arab allies such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates severely hampers Iran’s efforts to dominate the region and threaten Israel. This, in turn, further improves the U.S. position in negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran.