Trump says will lift sanctions on Turkiye, ‘consider’ selling F-35s

Announcement during Ankara meeting suggests pivot in US policy, despite opposition from Israel.

United States President Donald Trump has said he will lift sanctions on Turkiye and will soon decide on resuming sales of F-35s.

The statement on Tuesday came as Trump met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of a NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara.

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The pivot comes after the US booted Turkiye from the F-35 programme after Ankara acquired Russian S-400 air defence systems in 2019. Washington also imposed sanctions under the so-called Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump told reporters.

Sitting next to Erdogan, Trump said he would soon make a determination on the sale of US F-35 fighter jets to Turkiye.

“That’s a decision we’re going to make… it’s a great plane, the best plane by far and it’s certainly something we will consider,” Trump said.

Any move to return Turkiye to the F-35 programme would need to overcome a 2020 law requiring a presidential administration to determine Ankara no longer possesses or operates the Russian systems.

The CAATSA sanctions, meanwhile, specifically targeted Turkiye’s Presidency of Defence Industries and included US export license bans as well as financial and banking restrictions.

Erdogan, for his part, told reporters he hoped for a “favourable decision” on the F-35s, adding that Turkiye had previously been promised five jets.

Trump’s meeting with Erdogan comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has increasingly pressured the US not to resume F-35 sales to Turkiye.

Speaking on Monday to Fox News, Netanyahu said the sale of F-35s to Turkiye would “upset the power balance in the Middle East, which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority, and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East”.

This comes as the Trump administration has chafed with close ally Israel, as Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Lebanon has repeatedly threatened to derail a preliminary ceasefire agreement to end the US-Israel war on Iran.

Relations between Turkiye and Israel have tanked in recent years, despite the two countries increasing trade ties ahead of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Turkiye has been an outspoken critic of the Israeli military operation in the Palestinian enclave.

It remains to be seen how a reversal on selling F-35s to Turkiye would be received by US lawmakers.

But speaking to Turkiye Today on Tuesday, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham, a staunch supporter of Israel, said he was open to the prospect.

“There might be some pushback in Congress, but a solution might be found,” he said.