A foreign head of state is publicly dictating U.S. arms sales, demanding President Trump block Turkey from getting F-35 fighter jets, even as Iran puts a $100 million bounty on Trump’s head—proving again that American weapons and American lives are the collateral in other nations' feuds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on "Fox & Friends" Monday to tell the U.S. government what to do with its own military hardware, warning that selling F-35s to Turkey would “upset the power balance” Israel relies on. But why is an American weapons contract subject to a foreign veto? These are billions in U.S. defense contracts, and once again, a foreign leader is treating American military hardware as an entitlement for his own nation's security umbrella.

Netanyahu insisted Turkey shouldn't get the advanced jets, citing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hostility toward Israel and his cozying up to Russia. “Turkey is a great country, but it’s governed by a man who calls openly for the annihilation of Israel,” Netanyahu said. He blasted Turkey as “a regime infected by the Muslim Brotherhood, an extreme movement that hates America and chants ‘Death to America.’”

Turkey was booted from the F-35 program in 2019 after buying Russian S-400 missiles, but Erdogan is pushing to get readmitted at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara. Trump has previously called Erdogan an “extraordinary leader” and a “good friend,” setting up a clash between foreign lobbying and the administration's own diplomatic posture.

While Netanyahu pressures Washington to rig regional air superiority, Iran is making its intentions toward the U.S. President violently clear. At Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral over the weekend, crowds and official speakers alike called for Trump's assassination. According to Breitbart, a government-authorized poet declared to the crowd, “I swear by your blood; Trump’s murder is our responsibility.”

Mourners chanted, “We don’t want a deal, we want Trump dead,” and a massive red banner unfurled during the Tehran procession declared a $100 million “Iranian bounty” on Trump’s head. The regime's next supposed leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, was installed by the military in March but hasn't been seen since the February attack that killed his father, leaving a vacuum filled by explicit, state-sponsored threats against the U.S. President.

The U.S. is caught in a vice grip of foreign interests. On one side, an Israeli leader demanding we protect his air dominance by dictating our arms sales. On the other, an Iranian regime openly plotting the President's assassination. The revolving door of foreign influence and military contracts means American taxpayers fund the hardware, while foreign leaders dictate the terms.

The question isn't just whether Turkey gets the jets or whether Iran makes good on its threats. It's why American foreign policy and American weapons are still being brokered on the terms of foreign leaders who treat U.S. resources as their own private security detail.