WASHINGTON— Donald Trump has told Benjamin Netanyahu, in so many words, to mind his own business. America will sell whatever weapons it chooses to whoever it chooses and no foreign leader gets a veto.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Michigan, Trump brushed aside Netanyahu’s public campaign against selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey with characteristic directness. “Nobody tells me what we should be selling,” he said. “Turkey has been a tremendous ally for me.”
The rebuke marks a significant and very public fracture between two leaders who spent much of the Iran war presenting themselves as an unbreakable team. That team is showing cracks and Turkey is the wedge.
How It Got Here
Turkey was removed from the F-35 programme in 2019 after purchasing Russia’s S-400 air defence system a decision that cost Ankara access to America’s most advanced fighter jet and triggered US sanctions. Trump has been signalling for months that he wants to reverse that.
During the NATO summit in Ankara on 7 July the first visit by a US president to Turkey in 11 years Trump told a joint press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the United States would “certainly consider” selling F-35s to Turkey. He also announced the lifting of US sanctions on Ankara. “We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey has been in many ways much more loyal than other countries,” Trump said.
The Trump administration had already formally notified Congress of its intention to sell more than $700 million of F110 jet engines to Turkey the engines Ankara needs for its domestically developed KAAN fifth-generation fighter jet, built precisely because Turkey was locked out of the F-35 programme.
Netanyahu moved immediately to stop it.
What Netanyahu Said — and Why Trump Is Furious
In a Fox News interview the day before the NATO summit, Netanyahu called Turkey “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America and chants ‘Death to America.'” He said selling F-35s or engines to Ankara would “destroy the balance of power in the Middle East” and undermine Israeli air superiority the cornerstone of Israel’s strategic position in the region.
“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets,” Netanyahu told Fox News.
He went further in a CNN interview, telling anchor Dana Bash that Turkey was “not a friendly state” to the United States, that Erdogan “threatens to destroy my country, the one and only Jewish state” and that Ankara occupied half of Cyprus while threatening Greece a fellow NATO member.
The remarks landed badly in Washington. Two White House officials told Axios that Trump was “pissed off” by Netanyahu’s public intervention. One official said Trump believed Netanyahu had “no right” to intervene in the possible weapons sale. No White House meeting between the two leaders has been scheduled, despite reports in the Israeli media that Netanyahu would visit Trump this week.
Trump’s Calculation on Turkey
Trump’s response on Air Force One made his position clear and personal. “Tell them, look, Turkey has been a great ally for me,” he said. “He’s done a very good job, did a good job with Syria. He’s a friend of mine. And nobody tells me what we should be selling.”
The emphasis on personal loyalty “for me,” “a friend of mine” reflects how Trump views the relationship with Erdogan. The two leaders have maintained a warm personal rapport throughout Trump’s second term, with Turkey playing a key mediating role in several regional crises including the Iran conflict.
Trump acknowledged directly that Turkey and Israel are not friends. “Turkey is not a big fan of Israel. You know that, right?” he told reporters. “Turkey has been great. Very powerful country, by the way. Tremendous military, very big military, very powerful military, has a lot of great equipment.”
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan had called Israel “a burden that humanity can no longer bear” remarks Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar described as incitement to genocide. Turkish Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi had called for the “liberation” of Jerusalem. Netanyahu cited both statements in his case against the F-35 sale. Trump did not address them directly.
Congress May Be the Last Line of Resistance
Any F-35 sale to Turkey still faces significant legal hurdles and likely opposition in Congress including from Republicans. A bipartisan group of lawmakers has previously blocked Turkey-related arms transfers, citing Ankara’s purchase of Russian military hardware and its behaviour toward NATO allies Greece and Cyprus.
Republican members including Gus Bilirakis, Nicole Malliotakis and Michael Lawler — all with significant Greek-American constituencies have historically opposed arms sales to Turkey. Democratic members Jared Moskowitz, Brad Sherman and Stephen Lynch have raised similar concerns.
Whether Congress will hold the line this time with a Trump White House pushing in the opposite direction is an open question.
What Trump Said About Netanyahu — and Iran
Despite the tension, Trump did not attack Netanyahu personally. He praised the Israeli leader’s conduct during the Iran war while making clear the F-35 dispute was a separate matter.
“But Bibi has been great,” Trump said. “He was a wartime prime minister. We did very well together. And if you look at Iran now, they’re 8% of what they were four months ago.”
The claim that Iran has been reduced to 8% of its previous military capacity has not been independently verified. It reflects the administration’s consistent line that the Iran campaign has been a decisive success, even as the conflict continues and oil prices sit at $100 a barrel.
What is clear is that Netanyahu’s influence in Washington is weakening. The Israeli leader who arrived at the start of Trump’s second term as the president’s closest foreign ally is now struggling to secure a White House meeting over a weapons sale to a country that openly calls for Israel’s destruction.
M10News has been reporting on Trump pausing Iran strikes to allow diplomatic talks to progress and on how the Iran conflict is affecting Ireland’s construction costs and energy prices.
Editing by M10News News Desk | © 2026 M10News. All rights reserved. Unauthorised reproduction is prohibited.
