Trump Lifts Turkey Sanctions, Considers F-35 Sale as U.S. Strikes Iran

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. will lift sanctions on Turkey after Ankara purchased a Russian missile defense system and signaled he would “certainly consider” selling F-35 fighter jets to the NATO ally, even as Congress opposes the move.

“Trump says US will lift sanctions on Turkey, heaps praise on Erdogan By Humeyra Pamuk, Gram Slattery and Huseyin Hayatsever ANKARA, July 7 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday he would lift U”

Al-Monitor

In Ankara, Trump met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of the NATO summit, while the U.S. military launched strikes against Iranian targets early Wednesday after three merchant ships were struck in the waters off Oman.

Al-Monitor

U.S. Central Command said American forces launched the strikes “to impose heavy costs for targeting and attacking commercial shipping crewed by innocent civilians in an international waterway.”

A U.S. official said the strikes would hit around eight times more targets than the previous round of retaliatory strikes conducted at the end of June, and officials said the operation was expected to go on for hours and target air defense systems, coastal surveillance systems, and launch sites for anti-ship cruise missiles and drones.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that supplying F-35 stealth fighter jets to Turkey would upset the regional balance of power and encourage aggression, while he told CNN that Erdogan “He’s not exactly a model ally of the United States.”

Netanyahu also said, “He threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state,” as he argued Turkey’s growing military power could fuel instability across the region.

Alton Telegraph

Axios reported that Netanyahu complained to Trump in a Friday phone call about Erdogan’s escalating anti-Israel rhetoric and asked the U.S. president to refrain from selling weapons systems that would help Turkey modernize its air force.

The Times of Israel said Trump told reporters he would “certainly consider” the F-35 sale while sitting alongside Erdogan in Ankara, and Reuters was cited as reporting Trump was expected to throw his support behind the sale during his visit in Ankara.

The U.S. decision to lift sanctions would “help ease the process for Ankara to regain access to the F-35s,” but the AP said there were still “a number of legal hurdles” before Turkey could be fully admitted back to the U.S. program.

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Axios

Trump’s remarks came as NATO leaders debated defense spending and burden-sharing, with the AP describing NATO’s “big reveal” forum and noting NATO does not own weapons but has a fleet of 14 AWACS early warning radar surveillance planes about 50 years old.

In parallel, the U.S. strikes on Iranian targets were framed as a response to Iranian attacks on merchant shipping near the coast of Oman in the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. officials said Iran had not been listening so the U.S. was “turning up the volume.”

For Israel, Netanyahu’s opposition to any F-35 transfer to Turkey was tied to concerns about Israel’s qualitative military edge, while the Times of Israel said Israel has operated 48 of the aircraft with another 52 units on order.