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EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack is pushing again after backlash over remarks seen as equating Israel with Hezbollah, insisting his feedback replicate “realism” and never a change in U.S. coverage.
Barrack appeared to equate America’s closest ally within the Middle East with a U.S.-designated terrorist group, urged Turkey ought to quickly regain entry to the F-35 program regardless of its buy of Russia’s S-400 system, and argued that solely “highly effective management regimes” have succeeded within the area.
In unique written solutions to Fox Information Digital’s questions, Barrack rejected accusations that he was softening the administration’s stance towards Hezbollah or Iran, and argued that President Donald Trump’s “peace by way of power” method requires a extra pragmatic studying of the Center East.
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U.S. Ambassador Tom Barrack is pushing again after backlash over remarks seen as equating Israel with Hezbollah. (Hussein Malla/AP)
Fox Information Digital: Throughout your remarks on the Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board Friday, you described the Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire as a “day trip” and mentioned that “all people has been equally untrustworthy.” How do you reconcile that characterization with the U.S. designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist group?
Does your assertion that the objective is “not killing Hezbollah” replicate any shift from the earlier “most strain” method towards a method of containment or political inclusion?
U.S. Ambassador to Turkey and Particular Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack: Let me be very clear about my remarks on the Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board on April 17.
After I described the Israel–Hezbollah ceasefire as a ‘day trip’ and mentioned that ‘all people has been equally untrustworthy,’ I used to be merely stating the plain actuality on the bottom. That is realism, not criticism of any aspect.
The November 2024 ceasefire and the latest April 2026 ceasefire have repeatedly confirmed fragile as a result of all events — Israel, Hezbollah and their backers — have examined the bounds prior to now. Historic patterns of violations, rearmament and proxy escalation verify that mutual distrust is the core problem.
That mutual distrust is precisely why this administration brokered the ceasefire within the first place: to stop the senseless killing, create respiration room and construct a monitored, enforceable path ahead that strengthens Lebanese sovereignty and Israeli safety.
This characterization on no account softens our ironclad place: Hezbollah is a chosen terrorist group answerable for the deaths of People and numerous acts of destabilization.
We have now by no means trusted them. We acknowledge that inside Lebanon itself, the Hezbollah political get together is differentiated from Hezbollah the terrorist group, which holds parliamentary seats throughout the Lebanese authorities. Political belief in that regard must be earned.
U.S. Particular Envoy for Syria and Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack speaks throughout a session at Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board in Antalya, Turkey, April 17, 2026. (Umit Bektas/Reuters)
My level was easy: sturdy peace requires confronting that distrust head-on, not pretending it doesn’t exist. This method absolutely helps President Trump’s coverage of most strain on Iran and its proxies whereas delivering actual outcomes: positioning us to degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist capabilities by way of a mix of enforcement, Lebanese state authority and the renewal of an financial system that may present a brand new period of hope to Lebanese communities in each the north and south.
On the objective not being ‘killing Hezbollah,’ I stand by each phrase. After many years within the area, you can not remove an embedded militia solely by kinetic means when a sovereign state like Iran continues to arm and fund it. Pure ‘mowing the garden’ has by no means labored. On the contrary, it typically fuels recruitment and prolongs battle.
Our goal has at all times been to degrade Hezbollah’s terrorist infrastructure to the purpose the place diplomacy and a sovereign Lebanese authorities can take over beneath Lebanon’s confessional system, reflecting Christian, Sunni and Shiite pursuits. This isn’t a shift towards containment or political inclusion of a terrorist group. It’s the identical ‘most strain plus good diplomacy’ playbook this administration has used efficiently towards ISIS and different threats.
We proceed to again Israel’s proper to defend itself decisively, as Secretary Rubio explicitly affirmed within the present ceasefire phrases, whereas additionally pushing for an finish to the idiocy of countless warfare. Stopping the bleeding first, then imposing the win. That’s precisely what President Trump and Secretary Rubio achieved with this ceasefire.
No coverage adjustments in any respect. Simply clear, efficient execution.
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Tom Barrack, U.S. ambassador to Turkey and particular envoy to Syria, meets Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Baabda, east of Beirut, on July 7, 2025. (Lebanese Presidency Press Workplace/AP)
Fox Information Digital: You described the dispute over Turkey’s participation within the F-35 program as “insane” and urged the Russian S-400 difficulty may very well be resolved inside months.
What particular safeguards concerning possession and operability are into account to fulfill Part 1245 of the Nationwide Protection Authorization Act and deal with considerations that the Russian S-400 system may compromise delicate F-35 expertise? How do you reply to members of Congress who’ve threatened to oppose F-16 upgrades or any future F-35 switch to Turkey till your feedback concerning Hezbollah and Israel are clarified?
(For instance, Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who responded on to Barrack’s April 2026 remarks by saying Turkey wouldn’t obtain both F-35s or F-16s. Scott wrote that Turkey “funds Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, hates Israel, and loves Russia and Iran,” including: “Good luck shopping for F-35s, F-16s, and different American-made protection platforms.)
Barrack: Calling the extended deadlock “insane” is blunt frequent sense. It highlights precisely why the administration is true to pursue a decision: NATO unity towards Russia and China is a core U.S. nationwide safety curiosity.
Turkey stays a significant ally, internet hosting essential U.S. belongings, contributing to NATO missions and countering shared threats. Sanctions and exclusion from the F-35 program, triggered by the S-400 buy, have strained ties unnecessarily whereas Russia advantages from the wedge.
The S-400 difficulty can and ought to be resolved inside months by way of surgical diplomacy from Secretary Rubio, grounded within the robust private relationship between President Trump and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Let me be specific: any decision will absolutely fulfill Part 1245 of the NDAA. Which means verifiable cessation of possession and operability of the Russian S-400 system, with formal certifications from the secretaries of Protection and State confirming there isn’t a danger of compromise to delicate F-35 expertise.
There will probably be no shortcuts on American safety requirements. What I’m signaling is that actual breakthroughs are imminent: restoring Turkey’s function within the F-35 ecosystem, strengthening NATO interoperability, boosting U.S. trade and denying Russia leverage.
That is basic Trump deal-making: implement the regulation, shield our expertise and rebuild alliances that advance American power.
In each certainly one of these statements, I’m talking straight in assist of this administration’s foreign policy. We imagine in peace by way of power, candid evaluation of realities and delivering outcomes that shield U.S. pursuits with out dragging America into countless conflicts.
These feedback replicate that method: most leverage towards terrorists, pragmatic engagement with key partners like Turkey and a clear-eyed path to larger stability in a risky area.”
One other level of competition was Barrack’s repeated argument that robust centralized rule, reasonably than Western-style democracy, has been probably the most profitable mannequin within the Center East. Reiterating feedback he had made beforehand, Barrack mentioned on the Antalya Diplomacy Discussion board on April 17: “The one factor that’s labored, the one factor, are these highly effective management regimes: both benevolent monarchies, the type of monarchical republic.
IRAN’S COLLAPSE OR SURVIVAL HINGES ON ONE CHOICE INSIDE THE REVOLUTIONARY GUARD
Turkey was faraway from the American F-35 program in 2019 after buying Russia’s S-400 air protection system, which U.S. officers warned may enable Moscow to assemble intelligence on the stealth fighter.
Below Part 1245 of the National Defense Authorization Act, Turkey can not rejoin this system until the president certifies to Congress that Ankara not possesses or operates the S-400 and that the system poses no danger to the F-35.
Syrian President Ahmed Sharaa met with U.S. Particular Envoy for Syria Thomas Barrack on the Individuals’s Palace in Damascus on Jan. 18, 2026. (Syrian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu)
Fox Information Digital: You mentioned that “highly effective management regimes” are the one buildings which have labored within the Center East.
Does that assertion replicate a broader shift away from longstanding U.S. assist for democratic governance and human rights within the area?
Barrack: After I mentioned that ‘highly effective management regimes,’ whether or not benevolent monarchies or the type of monarchical republics seen elsewhere within the area, are the one buildings which have truly labored within the Center East, I used to be talking from many years of hard-earned statement, not ideology.
Take a look at the monitor document. International locations that attempted to undertake Western-style democracy rapidly after the Arab Spring largely failed, typically descending into chaos, civil warfare or new types of authoritarianism.
In the meantime, steady, results-oriented management in locations just like the Gulf monarchies has delivered safety, economic growth, modernization and actual enhancements in folks’s lives.
Israel, which one can rightly level to as a vibrant democracy within the area, stands as a notable outlier that has thrived beneath extraordinarily robust, daring management able to delivering safety and prosperity beneath extraordinary challenges, whilst some critics describe it as a “flawed democracy.”
Turkey, working as a presidential republic with common multiparty elections, additionally demonstrates how robust, centralized management beneath President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has delivered stability, financial dynamism and assertive regional affect, although critics have described it as a hybrid regime with robust authoritarian tendencies.
This isn’t a change in U.S. coverage away from supporting democratic governance and human rights. It’s a sensible evaluation of what produces stability in order that human rights and prosperity can take root.
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Warren Stephens, Tom Barrack, and Tilman Fertitta sit for his or her affirmation hearings. (Getty Pictures)
President Trump’s method has at all times been peace by way of power: cope with the world as it’s, not as we want it to be. We assist efficient governance that forestalls chaos, counters terrorism and creates situations for long-term progress.
That features backing robust, accountable leaders who ship for his or her folks, whether or not in monarchies which have modernized efficiently or in evolving programs that prioritize safety and alternative over imported fashions which have repeatedly collapsed.
