US President Donald Trump revealed on Wednesday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained out of the Iran war at his request, despite having the motivation to aid Iran during the conflict.
“He was a prime candidate to go into the war with Iran, maybe on the Iran side, because he’s not a big fan of Israel,” Trump said during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
However, Trump said that after he had asked Erdogan, whom he described as a friend, to stay out of the war, he did so.
“Everything I’ve ever asked him for, he’s done,” Trump added. He also said that he was going to be attending the Ankara Summit in two weeks at Erdogan’s request.
When asked if he would provide fighter jets and jet engines to Turkey, Trump stated that he would "probably do something" that would make Turkey ”very happy."
US Vice President JD Vance indicated that a review was underway to see how the United States could sell Turkey F-35 fighter jets, given Ankara's 2019 acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
"[US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] and the entire team are reviewing this right now, because there are certain things that we have to certify have happened ... in order to comply with American law. The president has asked us to do that," Vance told reporters.
Trump 'disappointed' with Europe for not helping during Iran war
Trump told Rutte that he was disappointed in the level of NATO participation in the Iran war, while the NATO secretary defended European countries' contributions.
“Generally speaking, your European allies have been there with you,” Rutte said.
Rutte stated that while he understood Trump’s disappointment with NATO, countries had still made significant contributions to the US war effort, including Romania, which had closed its airport to all commercial traffic when the US needed to send a tanker aircraft into the air, one of 4,000 to 5,000 planes that took off from European air bases during the war.
“It would have been very difficult to do Iran without having Europe as a power projection platform for the United States,” Rutte said.
However, Trump reiterated his stance that NATO countries had not done enough.
“We’re disappointed with most of them,” Trump said.
Trump doesn't think the US struck girls school in Minab
Trump also addressed the investigation into the deadly strike on a girls' school in Minab, Iran, during the start of the war with Iran, stating that the fault may never truly be determined.
“I don’t know that they’re ever going to solve that problem in terms of whose fault was it, because there were missiles flying all over the place,” Trump said, adding that he did not believe the missile that struck the school was from the US.
Trump said he had not yet seen the report into the attack, and was waiting for it to be complete.