U.S. President Donald Trump said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had considered joining military operations against Israel but ultimately decided against it.

Axar.az reports that Trump made the remarks during a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.

"I like Erdogan. He welcomed me at the highest level. He is great. But yesterday Benjamin Netanyahu made harsh remarks about Turkiye and Erdogan.

I spoke with him and said that he could have joined the war because he does not like Israel very much and also does not like Netanyahu. But he did not do it because I asked him not to. Turkiye is a very powerful country militarily. It has millions of soldiers. They are trying to buy F-35 fighter jets. But he did not enter the war. He wanted to, and if it hadn't been for me, he would have entered the war. In that case, he would have been on the other side," Trump said.