Donald Trump’s team agreed on sanctions that the United States will impose on Turkey for the purchase of Russian S-400 anti-aircraft defense systems.
The US president plans to announce them in the coming days.
The Trump Administration chose one of the three possible ‘punishments’ for Turkey provided for under the Law to Counter Adversaries through Sanctions (CAATSA).
Now, the plan must be approved and Trump is expected to announce the imposition of sanctions by the end of next week, several sources told Middle East headlines news, preferring to remain anonymous.
The administration wants to wait for the celebration of the anniversary of the coup attempt that took place in Turkey in 2016 to pass. This delay is made to avoid “any future speculations that the US was responsible for that rebellion, as several supporters of the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “, they claimed.
The plan was developed several days after the discussions held between the officials of the Department of State, Defense, and the National Security Council.
The sovereignty of Turkey vs ‘solidarity’ with NATO
Turkey began receiving parts of the Russian S-400s on July 12th, 2019, despite Washington’s belief that these systems put at risk the costly F-35 fighter construction program that was developed by the Pentagon.
“These supplies make it almost certain that the largest economy in the Middle East would be subject to punitive US actions,” reports stated.
In Washington, they believe that Russian systems are capable of shooting down NATO planes and collecting critical intelligence data that could compromise the capabilities of their fifth-generation fighters.
