Turkey, along with Hungary, has been a stumbling block to Sweden's bid, which requires unanimous approval by all NATO members. Biden "conveyed his desire to welcome Sweden into NATO as soon as possible," the White House said in a statement. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said he would convene a meeting between Erdogan and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius on Monday. While Finland's NATO membership was green-lighted in April, Turkey and Hungary have yet to clear Sweden's bid. During their call, Biden and Erdogan also discussed the delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey, and Ukraine's aim to join NATO, according to the Turkish presidency's readout.

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Persons: Joe Biden, Tayyip Erdogan, Erdogan, Biden, Jens Stoltenberg, Ulf Kristersson, Ezgi Erkoyun, Kanishka Singh, Hugh Lawson, Peter Graff, Leslie Adler Organizations: NATO, Kurdistan Workers Party, White, Monday, Thomson Locations: ISTANBUL, WASHINGTON, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Stockholm, Ankara, Turkish, Vilnius, Lithuania, Swedish, Finland, Ukraine