Trump Says He Will Lift Turkey Sanctions and Consider F-35 Jet Sale

At the NATO summit in Ankara on Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the United States would lift sanctions on Turkey imposed in 2020 over Ankara’s purchase of Russian defense missiles, while also saying he would consider allowing Turkey to buy American F-35 fighter jets.

“Trump says he'll consider giving Turkey F-35 jets, adds that US will lift sanctions The president continued to lash out at other NATO allies over Iran”

ABC News

Trump made the remarks as he met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Erdogan’s presidential compound, and he told reporters, "We’re going to be taking the sanctions off," while adding, "It’s a decision we’re going to make."

ABC News

The sanctions were imposed in 2020 after Turkey’s 2019 acquisition of the Russian S-400 system, and the same purchase led Washington to remove Turkey from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program.

The Hill reported that Trump is barred from selling the F-35s to Turkey because of U.S. sanctions on the country, which Trump enacted during his first term, and it said Congress also blocked the transfer of the F-35 as long as the Turkish military does not possess a Russian defense system.

In the background of the summit, ABC News said Turkey seeks to join a U.S. F-35 program but is prohibited from doing so under U.S. law as long as it possesses Russian-made air defenses, including systems that Mike Pompeo said would "endanger the security of U.S. military technology and personnel."

Trump’s openness to F-35 sales met resistance in Washington, where The Washington Post said many in Congress oppose the president giving Erdogan what he wants most: the ability to purchase U.S. F-35 fighter jets.

In a CNN interview, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the sale "doesn’t make Turkey a friendly state to the United States," and he described Ankara as "a regime that’s infected with the Muslim Brotherhood, which hates the United States."

Agenparl

The Hill quoted Netanyahu’s argument that delivering the jets would "upset the power balance in the Middle East," and it said Netanyahu told Fox News on Monday that the move is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority.

The Hill also reported that a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers wrote to Trump on July 2 that Erdogan’s "continued aggression" toward Israel made selling the F-35s "not in the best interest of our country."

While Trump said he had "no concerns" about whether Turkey’s S-400 missile defense system will be handed over to a third party, the same Hill report emphasized that Congress blocked F-35 transfers unless the Turkish military does not possess a Russian defense system, a condition codified in the 2020 Defense Authorization Act.

Trump’s sanctions decision appeared settled, but the F-35 question remained unresolved as Reuters and other reporting in the U.S. press described legal hurdles tied to Turkey’s Russian S-400 air defense system.

Defense News said Trump expressed willingness to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey while not specifying how a transaction could proceed given the legal hurdles, and it noted Congress passed a law prohibiting any F-35 sales to Turkey as long as Ankara retained the S-400s.

The Hill said Trump told reporters he will remove the ban on selling the F-35s to Turkey, but it also reported that Congress blocked the transfer of the F-35 as long as the Turkish military does not possess a Russian defense system.

In parallel, ABC News reported that Trump again lashed out at NATO allies over their reluctance to join U.S. military operations in reopening and patrolling of the critical Strait of Hormuz, saying, "I was very disappointed with NATO."

As the summit continued, Trump also revisited Greenland, telling reporters it "should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark," and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated that "this is not going to happen," according to Reuters.