One handshake.
That’s all it took to set off a firestorm of controversy across diplomatic circles, U.S. politics, and global media this week—after former president Donald Trump clasped hands with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during his surprise visit to the Middle East.
“This was not just a gesture,” said former U.S. ambassador Daniel Kurtzer. “It was a statement. A very dangerous one.”
The handshake, caught on video and instantly circulated by Al Jazeera, shows Trump smiling and nodding as he extended his hand toward Assad during a closed-door summit in Amman, Jordan. The image has already become one of the most divisive photographs of the year.
The Washington Post described it as “a moment that could redefine America’s legacy in the region.”
U.S. officials were reportedly not briefed on Trump’s private meeting with Assad—an authoritarian leader accused by multiple international bodies of war crimes, including chemical attacks on civilians and mass detentions of political opponents.
“This man is sanctioned,” said Senator Chris Murphy. “This handshake is the equivalent of shaking hands with genocide.”
Online, reaction was swift and brutal.
A post from @MiddleEastEye showing a zoomed-in still of the handshake has amassed over 15 million views. The caption: “Trump’s new handshake heard around the world.”
The Biden administration quickly condemned the meeting, calling it “reckless, unauthorized, and deeply damaging to global diplomatic norms.” A senior official told Politico the State Department was “blindsided and furious.”
Trump, however, defended the interaction.
In a Truth Social post, he wrote: “You don’t make peace by avoiding people. You shake hands, you make deals.”
But critics argue it wasn’t about peace.
“Shaking hands with Assad isn’t diplomacy,” said human rights lawyer Amal Clooney in a televised panel with BBC World News. “It’s absolution.”
This is not the first time Trump has courted authoritarian leaders with high-profile photo ops. His infamous 2018 summit with Kim Jong-un, complete with handshakes and salutes, drew similar condemnation from global watchdogs.
“This is a pattern,” tweeted @MSNBC. “Trump normalizes dictators and calls it deal-making.”
Sources close to Trump told Axios he believes a future peace deal in the region is “inevitable” if he regains the presidency and that he sees Assad as a “necessary player” in that vision.
But foreign policy experts are warning that the optics of this handshake could have dangerous consequences.
“It undermines years of international consensus,” said Dr. Rami Khoury, a senior fellow at the American University of Beirut. “And it sends a message to every regime with blood on its hands: the U.S. might still be open for business.”
Even among Trump’s usual supporters, some were rattled.
Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro tweeted: “Assad is not a leader you casually pose with. This isn’t strength—it’s blindness.”
Meanwhile, on the ground in Syria, state-run media hailed the meeting as a “historic moment of respect and validation.” The Syrian Arab News Agency ran the headline: “Assad Welcomes American Partner.”
For war survivors and activists, the image has reopened wounds.
“It feels like betrayal,” said journalist Zaina Erhaim, who fled Aleppo after losing family in the 2013 sarin gas attacks. “That hand shook with the same one that signed orders to kill children. How do you smile through that?”
With elections looming and tensions in the Middle East still volatile, the political fallout is only beginning.
And for many watching around the world, the question now isn’t whether the handshake was controversial.
It’s whether it crossed a moral line that can never be walked back.
