The US president said: „Syria was lost long ago. It was lost long ago. We’re not talking about vast wealth. We’re talking about sand and death. I’m getting out, we’re getting out of Syria. Look, we don’t want Syria.“

He added: „The Kurds, our partners are selling oil to Iran. I‘m not thrilled about that, I‘m not happy about it at all.“

However, Mr Trump said he did want to „protect“ US-backed Kurdish fighters in the country as Washington draws down its 2,000 troops, which would happen „over a period of time“.