WASHINGTON: The Trump administration on Monday imposed sanctions on its NATO ally Turkey over its purchase of a Russian air defense system, setting the stage for further confrontation between the two nations as President-elect Joe Biden prepares to take office.
The move comes at a delicate time in relations between Washington and Ankara, which have been at odds for more than a year over Turkey’s acquisition from Russia of the S-400 missile defense system, along with Turkish actions in Syria, the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan and in the eastern Mediterranean.
The US had previously kicked Turkey out of its F-35 stealth fighter development and training program over the purchase, but had taken no further steps despite persistent warnings from American officials who have long complained about the purchase of the S-400, which they say is incompatible with NATO equipment and a potential threat to allied security.
“The United States made clear to Turkey at the highest levels and on numerous occasions that its purchase of the S-400 system would endanger the security of US military technology and personnel and provide substantial funds to Russia’s defense sector, as well as Russian access to the Turkish armed forces and defense industry,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.
“Turkey nevertheless decided to move ahead with the procurement and testing of the S-400, despite the availability of alternative, NATO-interoperable systems to meet its defense requirements,” he said in a statement.
“I urge Turkey to resolve the S-400 problem immediately in coordination with the United States,” he said. “Turkey is a valued Ally and an important regional security partner for the United States, and we seek to continue our decades-long history of productive defense-sector cooperation by removing the obstacle of Turkey’s S-400 possession as soon as possible.”
The sanctions target Turkey’s Presidency of Defense Industries, the country's military procurement agency, its chief Ismail Demir and three other senior officials. The penalties block any assets the four officials may have in US jurisdictions and bar their entry into the US. They also include a ban on most export licenses, loans and credits to the agency.
The administration had held off on imposing punitive sanctions outside of the fighter program for months, in part to give Turkish officials time to reconsider deploying it and, some suspect, due to President Donald Trump's personal relationship with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
However, in past months Turkey has moved ahead with testing of the system drawing criticism from Congress and others who have demanded the sanctions be imposed under the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, or CAATSA, which mandates penalties for transactions deemed harmful to US interests.
Coming just a month and-a-half before Biden assumes office, the sanctions pose a potential dilemma for the incoming administration, although the president-elect's team has signaled it is opposed to Turkey's use of the S-400 and the disunity within NATO it may cause.
Last month, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said Turkey was prepared to discuss with the US its “anxiety” over the interoperability of the S-400s and the F-35s. The US reacted cooly to the suggestion and Pompeo shortly thereafter pointedly did not meet with any Turkish government officials on a visit to Istanbul.
Turkey tested the missile defense system in October for the first time, drawing a condemnation from the Pentagon.
Ankara says it was forced to buy the Russian system because the US refused to sell it American-made Patriot missiles. The Turkish government has also pointed to what it considers a double standard, as NATO member Greece uses Russian-made missiles.
US sanctions NATO ally Turkey over Russian missile defense system
https://arab.news/mbeja
US sanctions NATO ally Turkey over Russian missile defense system
- The move comes at a delicate time in relations between Washington and Ankara
- US had previously kicked Turkey out of its F-35 stealth fighter development and training program over the purchase
Tehran residents keep up semblance of normality amid destruction
- Chaotic scenes followed of panicked passers-by, parents scrambling to retrieve their children from school, queues at bakeries and endless traffic jams
- A week on, the noise and energy have ebbed, giving way to a rare, disquieting calm in a capital usually thronging with 10 million people
TEHRAN: For a moment Tehran resembled a city at peace, with birdsong, joggers and tranquil views of the snow-capped Alborz mountains in the distance. Then the sound of another explosion ripped through the air.
A week ago, opening strikes by the US and Israel killed Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, upended residents’ lives and transformed the city streets into a battleground.
In Tehran’s west, a block that belonged to the security forces had been blasted apart, and the entire surrounding area was choked with rubble.
Bizarrely, a green gate and fence enclosing the site stood untouched.
None were surprised by the war, and few had believed the nuclear talks then taking place between Iran and the US would avert it.
The broad-daylight strike at the country’s power center was nevertheless a shock.
Chaotic scenes followed of panicked passers-by, parents scrambling to retrieve their children from school, queues at bakeries and endless traffic jams.
A week on, the noise and energy have ebbed, giving way to a rare, disquieting calm in a capital usually thronging with 10 million people.
The city is at times granted breaks of a few peaceful hours before another string of explosions shatters the air.
- Mushroom clouds -
Another block, this one in the city center, had also been gutted.
Men stood guard, some of them heavily armed despite their apparent youth.
The blast was powerful enough to sow chaos through a nearby primary school, breaking windows and carpeting the playground with rocks and rubble.
Dust coated a row of motorbikes parked nearby.
In another neighborhood, only the steel framework of a bombed-out building had survived, still supporting a massive antenna on the roof.
Local people busied themselves with clearing away the rubble and recovering a few possessions.
They loaded salvageable sofas and home appliances onto decrepit blue pickup trucks in the unmistakable 1960s design of local brand Zamyad.
On the horizon, yet another black mushroom cloud reached skywards.
- ‘Ramadan War’ -
In the first days of the war, Tehran could seem like a ghost town.
But pedestrians were again venturing outdoors: a father walking with his daughter on a scooter, children playing with a ball, or locals sunning themselves in a park.
Runners and cyclists resumed their exercise. More shops were open again.
But the semblance of normality is skin-deep.
Along major roads, armed men in plain clothes and others in military fatigues and body armor inspected random cars at checkpoints.
The blockades made for traffic jams on the avenues, where other traffic was mostly restricted to scooters and delivery riders.
Forbidding armored vehicles appeared on high alert, one of them flying the banner of the Islamic republic.
At prayer time, armed Revolutionary Guards checked the faithful as they filed into a mosque.
One week after his death, posters and placards bearing Khamenei’s image were everywhere on the streets.
Some walls bore street art-style portraits in his honor that appeared in recent days.
In a neighborhood grocery shop, one employee was anxiously following the latest in what state TV had dubbed the “Ramadan War” across the Middle East.
