Sanctions against Iran

Defense Minister Yaşar Güler has said the possibility of the United States selling F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye could be on the table again.

"When the Americans saw that we could produce the [indigenous] Kaan aircraft, their thoughts changed a little. They state that they can give F-35s," Güler said in remarks to lawmakers on Nov. 26.

Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar emphasized the potential impact of U.S. sanctions on Russian energy company Gazprom, stating that Türkiye could be significantly affected if not granted an exemption.

The appeal by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan for the lifting of US CAATSA sanctions in a recent TV interview highlighted the difficulties of US-Turkish relations and the implicit but clear admission that Washington and Ankara are looking for a formula that would under certain conditions allow even the return of Turkey to the F-35 program.

Turkish Defense Ministry sources have neither confirmed nor denied a recent report in Kathimerini that said Turkey and the US are planning to stockpile Russian-made S-400s, with the aim of lifting CAATSA sanctions and returning Turkey to the F-35 procurement program.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for the lifting of U.S. sanctions that block his country’s defense supplies and other measures taken “unilaterally” that hinder the ability of NATO allies to achieve long-term bilateral trade goals.

Turkey's effort to get CAATSA sanctions lifted to pave the way for its acquisition of F-35 fighter jets from the United States was confirmed by its president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in his speech in New York and by his foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, in an interview last week to the state-run Anadolu Agency in which he referred to a quest for a "creative formula" on the issue.

A Greek shipping company has pleaded guilty to smuggling sanctioned Iranian crude oil and agreed to pay a $2.4 million fine, newly unsealed US court documents seen Thursday by The Associated Press show.

The US confiscated Iranian oil on a tanker at sea in recent days in a sanctions enforcement operation, three sources said, and days later Iran seized another oil-laden tanker in retaliation, according to a maritime security firm.

The vessel is managed by Greece-based Empire Navigation.

Expert Jonathan Schanzer, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Senior Vice President for Research, joins Thanos Davelis to look into the Supreme Court decision this week that the Turkish state-owned Halkbank remains subject to criminal prosecution in US courts for conspiring to evade US sanctions against Iran.

The US Treasury Department's top sanctions official on a trip to Turkey and the Middle East next week will warn countries and businesses that they could lose US market access if they do business with entities subject to US curbs as Washington cracks down on Russian attempts to evade sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine.