A report stating that Donald Trump is expected to tell Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, that he is willing to reinstate the country in the program that will allow it to purchase F-35 fighter jets, the New York Times reported on its website early Tuesday morning, shortly before the U.S. president’s departure for Ankara ahead of the NATO Summit NATO member states.

“Four senior U.S. government officials described the impending policy shift, following weeks of behind-the-scenes consultations among national security officials aimed at breaking the deadlock. Although there were differences in the details regarding how Trump intends to circumvent legal and congressional restrictions, “all agreed that he is expected, at the very least, to signal his intention to ensure the delivery of the F-35s to Turkey, though it remains unclear when that will happen,” the NYT reports.

However, as the Times points out, in light of Trump’s statements that he is preparing a “gift” that will make Erdogan “very happy,” the U.S. president’s effort may face pushback in Congress, which may attempt to block it.

Noting, furthermore, that it remains unclear exactly what Trump will say, The New York Times goes on to point out that “officials noted that he may even change his mind, as he is unpredictable even to his own aides. However, government sources have hinted that there may be an exchange of letters between the two leaders in order to formally launch the process.”

The American newspaper notes that “in 2019, during Trump’s first term in the White House, Turkey was excluded from the F-35 program because it had purchased S-400 air defense systems from Russia. Washington feared at the time that Turkey could use the S-400s to gather data on the capabilities of the F-35s and that Russia would gain valuable information about the aircraft’s stealth and missile-evasion capabilities.”

“However, Erdogan is among the strong leaders whom Trump says he admires most. Recently, Vice President Jay D. Vance revealed that Trump had instructed his aides to find a way for the Turkish president to acquire the fighter jets he has been seeking for years. For this to happen, however, a law passed by Congress in 2020 must be circumvented; this law prohibits the sale of F-35s to Turkey, unless the U.S. government determines that Ankara no longer possesses the Russian S-400 systems,” the NYT report continues.

An official who was actively involved in the negotiations told the Times that “one possible way to resolve the issue is to transfer the S-400s—many of which are still in their shipping crates—to a third country,” with a second official adding that “the exact mechanism has not yet been determined.”

As the New York Times notes, “four years ago, the possibility of transferring the missiles to Ukraine for use against Russian attacks was considered, but that plan was abandoned. Today, it is considered unlikely that either Trump or Erdogan would agree to sell them to Ukraine. One of the alternatives being considered is to render the systems inoperable by removing critical components.”

What the White House Said in 2019

In 2019, the White House explained the reasons why it removed Turkey from the program, incurring an economic cost of approximately $500 million to the United States. “The F-35 cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence-gathering platform that would be used to expose its advanced capabilities,” the White House statement said at the time. “Turkey has been a reliable partner and ally in NATO for more than 65 years, but the acceptance of the S-400s undermines the commitment of all allies to move away from Russian weapons systems.”

Nevertheless, the New York Times reports, Trump never felt comfortable with this decision and often blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama. Since returning to the White House, he has repeatedly expressed, both publicly and privately, his intention to reverse it.

The matter, however, is not so simple, the NYT notes, recalling statements made by the U.S. ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barak, in June 2025 that the dispute with Turkey over the F-35s would be resolved by the end of the year, having implied that Congress would support the decision. “However, that did not happen, and Trump now faces the possibility that the current or even the next Congress will not agree. Some Republicans, including Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, remain particularly skeptical,” the American newspaper notes.

In this context, it is also noted that among the long-standing critics of the sale of F-35s to Turkey is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who on Monday, speaking on Fox, said of Turkey that “it is ruled by a man who openly calls for the destruction of Israel. It occupies half of Cyprus, which is a member state of the European Union; it threatens Greece, also a NATO ally; and it speaks openly about the conquest of Jerusalem.”

Source: Proto Thema