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Trump to lift sanctions on Turkey and weigh F‑35 sale at NATO summit
U.S. President Donald Trump visited Ankara for the NATO leaders’ summit and announced that Washington will lift the CAATSA sanctions imposed on Turkey after its 2019 purchase of Russian S‑400 air‑defence systems. He said the United States is “going to be taking the sanctions off” and added that the F‑35 “is a great plane, the best plane by far, and certainly something we will consider” selling to Turkey, which had been excluded from the programme in 2020.
Trump praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a loyal ally and suggested the decision could be made at the summit. Erdogan reiterated that Turkey had been promised five jets and expected a “favourable decision.” U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham publicly voiced support for a possible F‑35 delivery, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned that the sale would upset the Middle‑East balance of power and urged the United States not to proceed.
The discussion occurs amid broader tensions over Turkey’s continued operation of S‑400 missiles, NATO defence‑spending pressures, and regional conflicts involving Ukraine, Iran and Israel.