Trump seeks to avoid slapping Turkey with sanctions over missile deal

The warnings were unambiguous, and now so is the retreat: after threatening to hit Turkey with sanctions for buying a Russian missile defense system, the Trump administration is looking for a way to avoid doing so.

Theoretically the sanctions were to be automatic, mandated by Congress, if NATO member Turkey opted to buy the S-400 system from NATO's main adversary Russia.

But since Ankara began taking delivery of the system, designed to protect the country from air attacks, on July 12, President Donald Trump has signaled he is loath to punish the US ally economically over the deal.

Legislators from both parties want the US leader to show firmness, after having pressed Turkey hard for two years not to follow through.

But after meeting with Trump this week, Republican senators were not optimistic.

"It was certainly clear that the president is not in a place right now where he wants to impose sanctions on Turkey," said an assistant to one of the legislators in the White House meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The billionaire president, who doesn't mask his affinity for controversial autocrats, says he has a close relationship with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

And the Turkish strongman has claimed that this relationship will permit him to escape sanctions.

The S-400 is viewed as threat to NATO -- it could be used to take aim at US and NATO aircraft.

For months Washington has repeatedly warned of "very serious" sanctions "if it completes the delivery of the S-400." However the message from Washington has changed since then. The United States' F-35 fighter jet program "cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities," the White House said last week.

But on signing off on the sanctions, Trump has demurred.

"We're not looking at that right now," he said on July 18.

"I've had a good relationship with President Erdogan," he said. "We're working through it -- we'll see what happens."