President Donald Trump announced July 7 at the NATO summit in Ankara that the United States will lift Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions on Turkey’s defense sector and signaled openness to selling Ankara F-35 stealth fighter jets, drawing immediate opposition from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and bipartisan congressional resistance.
“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump told reporters before bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the Bestepe Presidential Compound. “We don’t want to sanction friends.” Asked about coexistence concerns between Ankara’s Russian-made S-400 air defense system and any future F-35 acquisition, Trump said, “I have no concerns at all about anything.”
Trump described Turkey as “much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal” and said an F-35 sale was “certainly something we will consider.”
Erdogan then told reporters that Trump had already pledged five F-35s and that “Mr. Trump always stands by his word.” Asked to clarify the discrepancy, the White House pointed only to Trump’s prior remarks without further comment.
That gap has legal consequences. Section 1245 of the fiscal year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) bars F-35 transfers to Turkey unless the executive branch certifies Ankara has resolved its possession of the S-400.
Turkey acquired the Russian-made system in 2019, triggering its expulsion from the F-35 program that year and CAATSA sanctions on its defense sector in 2020. The Pentagon has warned the S-400’s radar could collect data on the F-35’s stealth profile and relay it to Moscow.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN’s Dana Bash that despite President Donald Trump’s friendship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his newfound willingness to sell them advanced F-35 fighter jets, the country is not a “friendly state to the United… pic.twitter.com/zBau6bbWqn
— CNN (@CNN) July 7, 2026
Netanyahu told CNN on July 7 that he had urged Trump directly to block the sale, warning it would “destroy the power balance in the Middle East.” He described Turkey as “not a friendly state to the United States.”
