F-35 sale to Turkey
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The F-35 sale to Turkey surfaced in July 2026 as a point of open friction between Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu.

John Kiriakou sets out two parallel objections. The Greek government and Greek-Americans "have long been opposed to the sale of F-35s to Turkey because, frankly, we're afraid the Turks are going to use them against Greece." The Israeli position is structurally identical: "the Israelis are afraid the Turks are going to use them against Israel. And so, Netanyahu has been strongly opposed to the sale of F-35s to Turkey."

What changed was the venue. Netanyahu made the objection in public, and "the president didn't appreciate it. And he said, 'I don't take my orders from a foreign leader as to which country I can make sales military sales to.' And he meant it." Kiriakou's assessment of the moment: "It was a slap-down to Bibi Netanyahu, something that we hadn't we hadn't yet seen."

He frames it within a general observation about how leaders handle being briefed by the press before being briefed by their allies, presidents "really do not like hearing news from reporters before getting it from the mouth of the foreign leader", and reads Trump's willingness to answer plainly rather than deflect as the significant part.

The F-35 recurs elsewhere in Kiriakou's account of the alliance as the object of Israeli espionage against American defence contractors; see F-35 Israel avionics.

The comparison Kiriakou draws

Kiriakou uses Turkey as the anomaly that shows what alliance membership is and is not worth. Listing the countries that have access to the aircraft through major non-NATO ally status, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Saudi Arabia, and Japan next, he set the exception against them: "and we don''t for other countries. In fact, Turkey is a member of NATO, and we won''t give them the F-35."

Why the answer itself was the message

Retelling the episode in August 2026, Kiriakou put more weight on what Trump could have said instead. Presidents caught off guard by news of an ally's conduct normally retreat into set formulas, "I don't discuss private conversations with foreign leaders", or "we're in constant communication, the situation is evolving", one of "100,000 phrases in the lexicon of national security silliness."

Against that background, choosing to answer at all is the significant act: "which is why it is such a big deal that Trump chose to reprimand Netanyahu for discussing strategy with reporters rather than just BS the question." Kiriakou adds the rule the prime minister broke, "you don't have to answer every question a reporter throws at you, especially when you know or ought to know that your answer is going to anger the president of the United States."

See also

- F-35 avionics dispute with Israel
- Benjamin Netanyahu
- Donald Trump
- Greek Intelligence Service
