NATO upbeat on Sweden bid as U.S. urges Turkey to say yes

NATO’s chief voiced guarded optimism Tuesday on welcoming Sweden to the alliance as the United States pressed holdout Turkey to drop its objections, two days after President Tayyip Recep Erdogan won re-election.

Sweden and Finland last year reversed decades of hesitation and formally applied to join NATO after Russia invaded Ukraine, which had unsuccessfully sought to enter the alliance whose members promise to defend one another.

But decisions must be unanimous, and Turkey has used its leverage to push the two countries over the presence of Kurdish militants, letting Finland join NATO in April but still blocking Sweden.