The United States has unveiled a new "punitive" measure against Turkey after the results of the local elections, in which the People's Alliance led by Justice and Development (AKP) made significant progress despite the "painful" loss of the two most important cities, Istanbul and Ankara.

Al Jazeera quoted a spokesman for the Pentagon as confirming that Washington had decided to freeze the delivery of any F-35 equipment to Turkey.

The spokesman, who asked not to be named, said the decision was in response to Turkey's insistence on buying the Russian S-400 missile defense system.

For its part, Reuters quoted informed sources that the United States stopped the shipment of equipment connected to the "F-35" to Turkey, while the first significant US action to prevent the delivery of this type of fighter aircraft to its partner in NATO, in light of Ankara's intention to buy a system Russian missile defense.

Two US sources told Reuters that US officials had told their Turkish counterparts in recent days that they would not get other shipments of F-35 equipment needed to prepare for Lockheed Martin's stealth aircraft.

The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the next shipment of training equipment and all subsequent shipments of F-35-related material had been canceled.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to back down on Ankara's plans to buy Russian missile defense system S-400, which the United States says will undermine the security of F-35s. Turkey says it will take over the Russian system in July.

The dispute over the F-35 is one of the most important and recent diplomatic disputes between the United States and Turkey, which include Ankara's demand that Washington hand over cleric Fathullah Gulen, Middle East policy, the war in Syria, and sanctions against Iran.

A Pentagon official told Reuters in March that the United States had a number of items that could block it to send a signal to Turkey that Washington was serious about Ankara abandoning its ambition to acquire the S-400 system.

Election results
Western media have confirmed that Western capitals are waiting to announce the Turkish results to see whether it will result in the weakness of Erdogan's position or the continued dominance of the political scene.

According to the Washington Post, Trump's administration hopes the election will bring about a lull that will allow discussion of controversial issues with Erdogan's government, such as the purchase of Russian missiles and the field situation in Turkey.

The Europeans are also waiting for the results of local elections in Turkey, and will lead to a change in the country's influence.

Turkey's deal to buy Russian S-400 missiles has given rise to mounting tension between NATO allies. The United States believes Russia's missile defense system could harm NATO's technology, as well as its reservations about Moscow's penetration of the region.