President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that his administration was preparing to lift congressionally mandated sanctions on Turkey as he weighs moving forward with the sale of coveted F-35 fighter jets to Ankara.

“We’re going to be taking the sanctions off,” Trump said alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, referring to lifting the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA). 

“It’s time to do that. We don’t want to sanction friends. It’s very simple,” he continued. “We’re working very closely with [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio and with [Treasury Secretary] Scott Bessent and with [Defense Secretary] Pete [Hegseth] and everybody else.”

"We don't wanna sanction friends," Trump said at the NATO summit as he announced he was preparing to lift sanctions on Turkey.

"It's very simple."

Read more: https://t.co/FM9Me9HQQk pic.twitter.com/HjwESQs5M6

— Jewish Insider (@jewishinsider) July 7, 2026

The CAATSA sanctions were imposed by Congress in December 2020 during the final weeks of Trump’s first administration due to Turkey’s acquisition of Russian S-400 missile-defense systems. The Trump administration had, the year before, announced it would be banning Turkey from the F-35 fighter jet program over the same issue, which Congress codified. Defense experts and lawmakers have previously told Jewish Insider that Turkey still maintains the Russian hardware, which makes lifting the sanctions legally complicated.

The Trump administration noted last month that it planned to review Ankara’s eligibility to receive the F-35s, a move that has already drawn bipartisan pushback in Congress. Asked whether he is still considering the deal despite these remaining legal restrictions, Trump said it was “something, certainly, we would consider.”

“It’s a decision we’re going to make,” Trump said. “We have a very good relationship. I can tell you, many people, including the people sitting right here, think, ‘Why wouldn’t we do that?’ We have a better relationship with Turkey and Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries.”

Throughout the exchange, Trump repeatedly emphasized his close ties with Erdoğan, describing the two as “great friends” and crediting the Turkish leader with playing an instrumental part in neighboring Syria.

“Because of [Erdoğan], we have a very good relationship with the new leader of Syria,” Trump said. “I approved [Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa] along with [Erdoğan]. We were the two that really wanted him, and he’s done a great job.”

Trump also lauded Turkey for playing an “extraordinary” role in helping wind down the military conflict between the U.S. and Iran, downplaying criticism over Ankara’s increasingly hostile relationship with Israel.

“They could have gotten into the fight on the other side,” Trump said of Turkey’s role in the Iran war.

“They are a nation that’s been very good, they’ve been extraordinary in many ways with respect to our relationship, including trying to end the war with Iran — or whatever you call it, it’s not even a war, it’s a military operation, it’s a denuclearization,” he added.