"United States Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
August 20, 2025
The Honorable
Chris Pappas
House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515
Dear Mr. Pappas:
Thank you for your August 7 letter to Secretary Rubio regarding the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) sanctions and Turkey. The United States has been clear with the Turkish government about our laws and policies regarding the acquisition of Russian defense equipment and the implications for acquisition of F-35 aircraft for Turkey.
The Trump Administration is fully committed to protecting U.S. defense and intelligence assets and complying with U.S. law, including CAATSA. The U.S. position on Turkey's acquisition and continued possession of the Russian S-400 system has not changed, and the requirements for Turkey to acquire U.S. F-35 aircraft are well-known, including those established by section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
Turkey is a longstanding NATO Ally with a history of making important contributions to Alliance missions. The United States' defense relationship with Turkey remains vital to the security interests of both the United States and NATO.
The United States seeks to cooperate with Turkey on common priorities and to engage in dialogue to resolve disagreements. We have expressed our disapproval of Ankara's acquisition of the S-400 and clearly conveyed steps that would need to be taken in our ongoing assessment of the application of CAATSA sanctions...."
After Greek and Israeli lobby pressure to "fact find" regarding talks of Turkey being let back into F-35, State Dept basically says officially nothing has changed and CAATSA and 2020 NDAA remains in place. There's no talk of F-35 until S-400s are removed.
