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The US government will halt the process of selling the Patriot systems if Turkey proceeds with the purchase of the Russian-made S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, a senior US official told Hurriyet Daily News on condition of anonymity, Sputnik reports.

“We will not proceed as the condition of the congressional authorisation to make the offer to Turkey, we’re not in a condition to proceed with the Patriot sale if the S-400 sale goes forward,” the official said.

The official then weighed in on talks between Ankara and Washington at which the American side laid out the proposal for the acquisition of the Patriots:

“We are very concerned that the Turkish purchase of S-400 missiles will endanger Turkish participation in the F-35 programme and will likely result through our legislation in some sort of sanctions coming through the legislations called CAATSA,” the insider stated.

The remarks came just weeks after Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that the deliveries of Russian S-400s were not intertwined with the procurement of US Patriots.

The Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a potential $3.5 billion sale of Patriot systems to Turkey last December. The deliveries would include 80 Patriot guidance-enhanced missiles and 60 other missiles and related equipment such as radar sets, engagement control, and launching stations.

The US has been working with its NATO ally on the sale of its Patriot missile system to prevent it from acquiring Russia’s S-400s, which has become a major stumbling block in Washington-Ankara relations.