U.S. President Donald Trump arrives for a family photo during the NATO leaders summit at the Bestepe Presidential Compound in Ankara, Turkey, July 8, 2026. (Credit: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday that Turkey hopes to soon reach an agreement on lifting U.S. sanctions and on its desire to acquire F-35 fighter jets, adding that there should be no restrictions on defense industry cooperation between allies.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who visited Ankara this week for a NATO summit, announced Tuesday that he would lift U.S. sanctions imposed on Turkey over its purchase of Russian S-400 missile defense systems.
Speaking to public broadcaster TRT Haber, Fidan said there was political will in both Ankara and Washington to lift the sanctions, and that the ministers involved were working to resolve the issue.
In 2020, Washington imposed sanctions on Turkey under the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, following its acquisition of the S-400s. It also excluded Ankara from the F-35 stealth fighter jet program. The U.S. Congress passed a law requiring Turkey to dispose of the S-400s in order to rejoin the F-35 program.
Fidan said there were two issues left to resolve in U.S.-Turkey relations that fall under U.S. legislation. "The CAATSA law is one of them. The F-35 fighter jet issue is another ... God willing, we will reach a conclusion soon; in other words, I do not think there will be problems in this regard," he added.
The Turkish daily Hurriyet reported Friday that Turkey could soon announce it would sell the S-400s to a Gulf country in order to persuade the United States to supply it with F-35s.
Asked Friday whether Turkey had sought Russian authorization for such a deal, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow was in contact with Ankara on what he called an "extremely sensitive issue."
Hacking Lebanese Politics #36: Is Lebanon about to abolish the death penalty?
