During Trump's first term, the U.S. removed Turkey from the F-35 program after Turkey purchased an air defense system from Russia • Netanyahu urged against the sale, arguing that such transfers would 'upset the balance of power in the Middle East'
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During Trump's first term, the U.S. removed Turkey from the F-35 program after Turkey purchased an air defense system from Russia • Netanyahu urged against the sale, arguing that such transfers would 'upset the balance of power in the Middle East'
09:53 AM • July 07 2026 IDT
U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to announce that he will allow Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to purchase F-35 fighter jets from the United States, The New York Times reported on Monday, only hours after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the president against the potential sale.
According to the report, which cites four senior Trump administration officials, Trump will attempt to permit the sale by working around existing legislation and Congress, which could oppose the decision. According to the officials, Trump is expected at the very least to signal a willingness to sell them to Turkey, with the timing remaining unclear.
While the officials noted that the president could still change his mind regarding the sale, they suggested there could be an exchange of letters between the two presidents to get the process underway.
Trump said last week that he would be bringing Erdoğan a gift when he arrives in Turkey for the NATO summit, set to open on Tuesday in Ankara, adding that he will "probably do something that's going to make him very happy."
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During Trump's first term, the U.S. removed NATO ally Turkey from the next-generation fighter program after Turkey purchased an air defense system from Russia. U.S. officials worried that Turkey's use of Russia's S-400 missile system could be used to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35 and that the information could end up in Russian hands.
Ankara has long sought to be readmitted to the project, which was developed by the U.S. and other NATO members. Erdogan has said Turkey invested $1.4 billion before it was suspended from the program in 2019. The U.S. also imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act the following year.
Last month, Trump, who has described Erdoğan as "my friend," appeared to signal that he would support selling Turkey F110 fighter jet engines and readmitting Ankara to the F-35 program.
"I would not have gone for most people," Trump said. "But he called me up. He said, 'Please, I have it in Turkey. You got to be there. The United States has to be in there.' And so I'm going out of respect to President Erdoğan."
On Monday, Netanyahu urged the United States not to sell F-35 fighter jets or F110 fighter jet engines to Turkey. "I don't think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets," Netanyahu said, arguing that such transfers would "upset the balance of power in the Middle East," which he said is guaranteed by Israel's military superiority and the U.S. regional presence.
In an interview with Fox News ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump's departure for a NATO summit in Turkey, Netanyahu also sharply criticized Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's government, accusing it of supporting Hamas and threatening Israel, while insisting that ties between Jerusalem and Washington remain strong despite recent reports of tensions over Iran.
Netanyahu described Turkey as "a great country" but said it is governed by "a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood – an extremist movement that chants 'Death to America.'" Referring to Erdoğan, he said the Turkish president "openly threatens Israel with destruction" and "occupies half of Cyprus," a NATO member, and threatens Greece, another NATO member.
He also accused Ankara of backing Hamas, saying Turkish authorities "finance Hamas, they harbor Hamas, they roll out the red carpet for Hamas," adding that they are "in fact supporting the bad guys."
Tensions between Israel and Turkey have deepened over the past year amid mutual accusations and sharply escalating rhetoric. Erdoğan has previously warned that Israeli strikes in Lebanon and Syria threaten Turkey's security, saying that Israel's "aggression" poses a broader regional danger and calling for it to be stopped.
Also on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar accused Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan of making "a clear call for genocide," adding that "the first step on the road to genocide is dehumanization."
Sa'ar was responding to remarks Fidan made in an interview with CNN on Friday, in which the Turkish foreign minister said, "Israel is not just my problem; Israel is the world's problem," adding that Israel had become "a burden that humanity can no longer bear."
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