US President Donald Trump and Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan shake hands as they meet at the White House in Washington, DC, US, Sept. 25, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is urging the Trump administration to halt any plans to advance negotiations with Turkey, a NATO ally, over acquiring advanced US fighter jets, warning that doing so without congressional approval would violate federal law and undermine national security.

The message came as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House to discuss a range of issues, including the potential sale of F-35s to Ankara.

In a letter sent on Thursday to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, 20 members of the US Congress raised alarm bells over reports that the administration is exploring “a major F-16 deal” with Ankara and seeking to “conclude positively” ongoing talks about the F-35 program. In August, a bipartisan group of 40 lawmakers requested that Rubio prevent Turkey from joining the F-35 program.

“Proceeding with such a sale without fulfilling the statutory certification requirements would violate US law, jeopardize national security, and strain relations with key allies,” the lawmakers wrote in Thursday’s letter.

At the center of the dispute is Turkey’s purchase and continued possession of the Russian-made S-400 air defense system, which US officials argue poses a direct threat to the stealth capabilities of both the F-16 and F-35. The Trump administration expelled Turkey from the F-35 program in 2019 and imposed sanctions under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA).

Congress later codified restrictions through Section 1245 of the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, which prohibits any transfer of F-35 aircraft to Turkey unless the State and Defense departments certify that Ankara has removed the S-400 and pledged not to purchase similar Russian systems in the future. Lawmakers said no such certification has been provided.

“Any sale or transfer of F-35 aircraft or related systems in the absence of this certification would therefore constitute a clear violation of US law,” the letter stated. The members also warned against potential workarounds, such as transferring the jets to non-sanctioned Turkish entities, saying such moves would “blatantly defy congressional intent.”

Trump addressed the issue during his meeting with Erdogan. Asked whether he was willing to make a deal to sell F-35s to Turkey, Trump told reporters: “I think he’ll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy.” The US president went on to say that he could lift sanctions against Turkey “very soon,” adding that “if we have a good meeting, almost immediately.”

Erdogan has expressed frustration with Turkey’s suspension from the F-35 program and a keen interest in rejoining.

The US lawmakers’ letter highlighted growing frustration in Congress over Turkey’s behavior in the eastern Mediterranean, pointing to Ankara’s threats against Greece, Cyprus, and Israel. Lawmakers praised US allies in the region for their cooperation with Washington while blasting Turkey for what they described as “destabilizing actions.”

“Rewarding Ankara with access to advanced US fighter systems despite this behavior would betray these partnerships and only embolden Turkey to intensify its aggression,” the lawmakers warned.

The letter, led by Reps. Chris Pappas (D-NH) and Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), was signed by more than a dozen Democrats and Republicans, including Reps. Dina Titus (D-NV), Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY), Brad Sherman (D-CA), and Don Bacon (R-NE).

The group is demanding answers from the administration by Oct. 1 on whether it has received credible assurances from Turkey regarding the removal of the S-400 system, whether it intends to submit the required certification, and whether it can commit to withholding any F-35 transfers until Congress is notified.

The State Department has said publicly that the US position on Turkey’s S-400s “has not changed” and that Washington remains committed to complying with US law.

Illustrative: Pro-Hamas Columbia University students march on Oct. 7, 2024, the one-year anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Photo: Roy De La Cruz via Reuters Connect

Jewish students employed as graduate workers by Columbia University have filed a federal complaint against their campus labor union — Student Workers of Columbia, an affiliate of United Auto Workers (UAW) — alleging that its bosses devote more energy and resources to pursuing “radical policy proposals” than improving occupational conditions.

The National Right to Work Foundation (NRTW), a nonprofit organization which fights for worker mobility and freedom of representation that is providing the students legal counsel free of charge, announced the action on Monday. In a release shared with The Algemeiner, it said the students, who have formed the advocacy group Graduate Researchers Against Discrimination and Suppression (GRADS), are subjected to abuses which magnify problems inherent in compulsory union membership — chiefly that they may be forced to accept as representatives of their interests union bosses who act in “bad faith” and hold offensive beliefs.

At Columbia University, this issue has manifested in UAW’s unrelenting effort to inveigle school officials into adopting the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel and other measures, including abolishing relationships with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and Tel Aviv University.

“These and similar actions constitute bad faith bargaining … and violate the duty of fair representation that respondent union owes to all represented graduate students,” state the charges, which GRAFS filed at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

“Far from facilitating a more harmonious relationship between graduate students and the Columbia administration, UAW union bosses are simply ramping up radical extremism at a university that has already seen more than its share of chaos,” National Right to Work president Mark Mix said in a statement. “While it’s wrong from the start that any student is forced to accept union boss ‘representation’ they oppose, it’s even less acceptable that UAW union officials are trying to use their monopoly bargaining privileges to enforce their divisive politics on the entire campus, including undergraduate students.”

Experts told the US Congress earlier this month that antisemitism runs rampant in campus labor unions, trapping Jews in exploitative and nonconsensual relationships with union bosses who spend their membership dues on political activities which promote hatred of their identity and the destruction of the Jewish homeland.

Testifying at a hearing titled “Unmasking Union Antisemitism” held by the House Education and the Workforce Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions, the witnesses described a series of issues facing Jewish graduate students represented against their will by the United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers (UE) union.

During an interview with The Algemeiner after the hearing, Glenn Taubman, staff attorney for NRTW, said union antisemitism highlights the issues inherent in compulsory union representation, which he says quells freedom of speech and association. He pointed to the case of Cornell University PhD candidate David Rubinstein, who testified before the subcommittee about his own tribulations and a climate of hatred which evades being redressed because the ringleaders fostering it hold left-wing viewpoints.

“The only reason that David is forced to be represented by UE and is theoretically forced to pay them dues is because federal labor law allows that and in many cases requires it,” Taubman explained. “What I told the committee is that ending the union abuse of graduate students and people like David requires amending federal law so that unions are not the forced representatives of people who don’t want such representation.”

He added, “Unions have a special privilege that no other private organization in America has, and that is the power to impose their representation on people who don’t want it and then mandate that they pay dues because they quote-un-quote represent you. That is the most un-American thing that I can imagine.”

Rubinstein told The Algemeiner that he is a Democrat who supports many of the causes for which unions advocate but that what he described as UE’s support for Hamas leaves him no choice but to seek every avenue for disassociating with it.

“As a Jew, I cannot support an organization which spends its time not advocating for wages and health care but rather for ‘intifada revolution,’” he said. “The union antisemitism is empowered by the Cornell administration’s persistent weakness and consistent reneging on its promises to defend the rights of Jewish students.”

Rubinstein added that Cornell University president Michael Kotlikoff came close to exempting students from paying UE dues but abandoned the policy change after its members threatened to strike and thereby disrupt university operations.

“The threat of being terminated, the demands for money, and the constant harassment that others and I have experienced from UE would have never been possible had it not been for the weakness of Cornell leadership,” he added.

Campus antisemitism has drawn NRTW into an alliance with Jewish faculty and students across the US.

In 2024, it represented a group of six City University of New York (CUNY) professors, five of whom are Jewish, who sued to be “freed” from CUNY’s Professional Staff Congress (PSC-CUNY) over its passing a resolution during Israel’s May 2021 war with Hamas which declared solidarity with Palestinians and accused the Jewish state of ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and crimes against humanity. The group contested New York State’s “Taylor Law,” which it said chained the professors to the union’s “bargaining unit” and denied their right to freedom of speech and association by forcing them to be represented in negotiations by an organization they claim holds antisemitic views.

That same year, NRTW prevailed in a discrimination suit filed to exempt another cohort of Jewish MIT students from paying dues to the Graduate Student Union (GSU). The students had attempted to resist financially supporting GSU’s anti-Zionism, but the union bosses attempted to coerce their compliance, telling them that “no principles, teachings, or tenets of Judaism prohibit membership in or the payment of dues or fees” to the union.

Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian addresses the 80th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at the UN headquarters in New York, US, Sept. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Jeenah Moon

Iran, China, and Russia have pledged coordinated action against European efforts to reinstate United Nations sanctions on Tehran, denouncing them as “illegal” after repeated negotiations failed to reach an agreement over the Iranian nuclear program.

On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Legal and International Affairs Kazem Gharibabadi met with his Chinese and Russian counterparts to explore deeper diplomatic collaboration amid escalating tensions with the West.

“We agreed on coordinated action against the unlawful efforts of Germany, France, and the UK to bring back sanctions that had been lifted,” the Iranian diplomat said.

Last month, Britain, France, and Germany formally initiated the 30-day process to activate the snapback mechanism, accusing Tehran of violating the 2015 nuclear deal meant to curb its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief — a move Iran condemned as “unjustified and unlawful.”

Russia and China, both signatories to the 2015 nuclear deal, have backed the Islamist regime in Tehran while firmly opposing Europe’s efforts to reinstate UN sanctions.

Facing the looming threat of economic sanctions and still reeling from its 12-day war with Israel, Iran is seeking support from its allies to restore and strengthen its defense capabilities.

On Wednesday, meanwhile, Mohammad Eslami, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), announced that Tehran signed an agreement with Moscow to build more nuclear power plants in the country, further deepening their ties.

Earlier this year, Russia pledged to build eight nuclear power plants in Iran, including four in the southern province of Bushehr.

According to a press release from the AEOI, the newly signed deal aims to expand bilateral cooperation on the “peaceful use of nuclear energy,” with the goal of strengthening energy security, advancing technology, and promoting sustainable development.

This week, Iran also received Russian MiG-29 fighter jets, while the country awaits delivery of more advanced Sukhoi Su-35s, emphasizing the regime’s latest push to rebuild its military capabilities.

“Once these systems are fully in place, our enemies will understand the language of power,” Abolfazl Zohrevand, a member of the Iranian parliament’s National Security Committee, told local media.

The Iranian lawmaker also claimed that Tehran is receiving China’s HQ-9 and Russia’s S-400 air defense systems “in significant numbers.”

According to the Associated Press, Iran has also started rebuilding several ballistic missile facilities as part of a wider effort to restore its missile program, which was significantly damaged during its war with Israel.

The United Kingdom, France, and Germany — collectively known as the E3 — have offered to delay the reimposition of UN sanctions for up to six months to allow more time for negotiations on a long-term agreement over Iran’s nuclear program.

However, the offer depends on Tehran restoring access for UN inspectors, addressing concerns about its enriched uranium stockpile, and engaging in talks with Washington.

Unless Iran and the European powers reach a deal to postpone the reimposition of sanctions within the next few days, the snapback process will move forward.

Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian vowed that the country would withstand any renewed sanctions and continue pursuing its national interests, emphasizing that Tehran would “never bow before aggressors.”

Iran has long maintained that its nuclear program is solely for peaceful civilian purposes. However, Western countries have accused Tehran of seeking the capability to develop nuclear weapons.