Washington (QNN)- Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has stated that his country will not enter negotiations “directly right now” with Israel over joining the Abraham Accords, citing Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights as a reason. In a Fox News interview on Monday following his Washington meeting with US President Donald Trump, the first ever for a Syrian leader, Sharaa suggested that the US could help pave the way to an agreement. Sharaa pointed explicitly to Israel's occupation of the Syrian Golan Heights, saying the conditions faced by Damascus are different than those of other nations who signed on to the normalization agreements. "I believe that the situation in Syria is different from the situation of the countries who signed on to the Abraham Accords," he said during the Fox News interview. “We are not going to enter into a negotiation directly right now,” he said in response to a question about Syria joining the Abraham Accords. “Maybe the United States administration, with President Trump, will help us reach this kind of negotiation.” Sharaa told Fox News the US and his country were now allies “Syria is no longer looked at as a security threat, it is now looked at as a geopolitical ally,” he said. “It’s a place where the United States can have great investments, especially extracting gas.” The Abraham Accords are US-brokered agreements to normalize relations between Israel and several Arab countries during Trump's first term. Prior to Kazakhstan's entry last week, four nations had joined the normalization agreements: Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE and other countries involved in the agreements have maintained their trade and security ties with Israel. In recent months, Trump has repeatedly said he hopes that Saudi Arabia and Syria will join the accords.