Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the United States on Monday not to sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. In an interview given to Fox, the Israeli leader described Turkey as an “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood”.
“I don’t believe that F-35 planes or engines for their fighter jets should be provided, as this would disrupt the balance of power in the Middle East,” argued Benjamin Netanyahu.
Washington excluded Ankara from the F-35 program in 2019, as a result of the Turks’ acquisition of the Russian anti-missile defense system S-400 two years earlier, in 2017.
The statements of the Israeli Prime Minister came after Trump hinted last month that he would be willing to approve the sale of F110 fighter jet engines to Turkey and support Ankara’s reintegration into the F-35 fighter jet program, writes hotnews.ro.
Asked in June about a possible access of Turkey to the F-35 aircraft, the American president responded that he would soon make his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, “very happy”.
Such a decision, however, requires the approval of the US Congress, a fact reiterated by Vice President JD Vance, who was present alongside Donald Trump in the Oval Office during that discussion.
The F-35 aircraft of Lockheed Martin company is the most sophisticated combat aircraft of the USA. The aircraft was developed by the United States, in partnership with other NATO member countries, among which Turkey is included, within a program called Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).