• Tillerson to Arabs: Help us isolate Iran,

From wire services

DOHA, Qatar — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson took the Trump administration’s case for isolating and containing Iran in the Middle East and beyond to two Gulf Arab nations on Sunday, pushing for Saudi Arabia and Iraq to unite to counter growing Iranian assertiveness. He also called for a quick resolution to the ongoing crisis between Qatar and its Arab neighbors, which he said was unintentionally bolstering Iran.

And in the Trump administration’s most pointed warning to date on Tehran, he said European companies doing business with the Revolutionary Guard in Iran could face “great risk” from sanctions.

In Saudi Arabia and later Qatar, Mr. Tillerson denounced Iran’s “malign behavior” and urged nations of the region and elsewhere, notably Europe, to join the administration to halt any business they do with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also demanded that Iranian and Iran-backed Shiite militia in Iraq either return to their homes, integrate into the Iraqi army or leavethe country.

“Those fighters need to go home,”Mr. Tillerson said.

In Riyadh for the inaugural meeting of the Saudi Arabia-Iraq Coordination Council — a vehicle that U.S. officials believe can wean Iraq from Iran — Mr. Tillerson told Saudi King Salman and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi that the nascent partnership between their countries held great promise for Iraq’s reconstruction after devastating battles to wrest territory from the Islamic State group and its independence from foreign influence.

Russians’ ads downplayed

President Donald Trump on Saturday downplayed the significance of Russianbought Facebook ads, which leading lawmakers investigating election meddling have said were intended to influence last year’s campaign and divide Americans.

“Keep hearing about ‘tiny’ amount of money spent on Facebook ads,” Mr. Trump said on Twitter. “What about the billions of dollars of Fake News on CNN, ABC, NBC & CBS?”

CIA’s Afghan footprint

The CIA is expanding its covert operations in Afghanistan, sending small teams of highly experienced officers and contractors alongside Afghan forces to hunt and kill Taliban militants across the country, according to two senior U.S. officials.