Responding to speculations that S-400 missile defense systems would be sold to a third country, the Ministry of National Defense said Thursday that “multilateral work” was underway and the public would be informed “once concrete steps are taken.”
This month’s NATO summit and U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to sell F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye led to rumors that Ankara may give up the missile system it acquired from Russia in 2019. The acquisition led the U.S. to speed up the sanctions process against the country it is allied with in NATO. On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Trump has also signaled an end to Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions against Türkiye. Turkish media outlets have claimed that the Russian system would be sold to either Qatar or the United Arab Emirates (UAE), two countries that have faced the risk of spillover of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran since February.
Speaking alongside President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the Presidential Complex after arriving in Ankara for the NATO leaders summit, Trump said the time had come to remove sanctions that have strained relations between the two NATO allies.
“We’re going to lift the sanctions,” Trump said. “We don’t want to sanction our friends. I don’t want to choke my friend with sanctions.”
