ISTANBUL — US President Donald Trump on Saturday blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for Turkey’s decision to buy advanced Russian missiles that his administration has warned could endanger NATO security and pledged to find a way out of the dispute that has rattled the countries’ decades-old alliance.
Yet Trump stopped short of announcing a breakthrough with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with just weeks to go before Turkey takes delivery of the Russian-made S-400 Triumph. That acquisition will put Turkey at risk of US economic sanctions and expulsion from the Pentagon’s F-35 fighter jet program. Turkey says it needs the Russian weapons, widely considered the most advanced antiaircraft system available, because Washington has refused to transfer technology with its own offer of American missiles.