U. S. imposes sanctions on Iranian diplomat

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Wednesday in a dramatic step bound to further escalate tensions with Tehran.

The move to punish Iran’s top diplomat had been anticipated after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said last month that President Donald Trump had directed him to sanction Mr. Zarif, a forceful advocate of Iran’s point of view. But the sanctions were delayed after State Department officials argued that would close the door to diplomacy.

Mr. Trump has frequently expressed a desire to talk with Iranian leaders, even as his administration deepens a maximum pressure campaign that has devastated the Iranian economy.

“Javad Zarif implements the reckless agenda of Iran’s Supreme Leader and is the regime’s primary spokesperson around the world. The United States is sending a clear message to the Iranian regime that its recent behavior is completely unacceptable,” Mr. Mnuchin said.

The sanctions freeze all U. S. assets and prohibit any U. S. person or entity from dealings with Mr. Zarif, and threatens sanctions against those in other countries that deal with him. Mr. Zarif, who was educated in the U. S. and has spent about one- third of his life in the country, has said he has no U. S. assets.

The sanctions also prohibit travel to the U. S., which is already banned for Iranian officials. Under international agreement, the U. S. must admit those traveling to the United Nations in their official capacity.

Bin Laden’s son killed

Osama bin Laden’s son Hamza bin Laden, who was viewed as an eventual heir to the leadership of al- Qaida and had repeatedly threatened to attack the U. S., is dead, according totwo American officials.

Details of the strike that killed him were scarce, including when and where. The U. S. government played a role in the operation, but it was not clear how, according to the officials, who discussed his death on the condition of anonymity because it involved sensitive operations and intelligence gathering.

Bin Laden was killed sometime during the first two years of the Trump administration, officials said. He was killed before the State Department announced a $ 1 million reward for information about his whereabouts in February, but American military and intelligence agencies had not confirmed his death by then.

Though bin Laden carried a prominent name and lineage, the news of his death represented more of a symbolic victory for the American government than the removal of a threat. AlQaida has not carried out a large- scale attack in years, and though bin Laden was being groomed to eventually take over the group, that time appeared to be well into the future.

Intel pick inflated resume

Aides to the congressman chosen by President Donald Trump to lead the nation’s intelligence agencies were forced on Tuesday to clarify his claims that he had won terrorism convictions as a federal prosecutor, as his background came under new scrutiny.

Mr. Trump’s pick, Rep. John Ratcliffe, R- Texas, had said on his House website and in campaign material that he had tried suspects accused of funneling money to the Hamas terrorist group. But instead, an aide said, Mr. Ratcliffe had investigated side issues related to an initial mistrial and did not prosecute the case either in that proceeding or in a successful second trial.

The questions about Mr. Ratcliffe’s resume came amid broader concerns from Democrats and even some Republicans about the depth of his experience and his partisan outspokenness.

Rachel Stephens, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ratcliffe’s congressional office, confirmed that the Justice Department appointed him “to investigate issues related to the outcome” of the Hamas case.

Mr. Trump defended Mr. Ratcliffe as the right choice to rein in intelligence agencies, which he has long viewed with skepticism and openly disparaged. “We need somebody strong that can really rein it in, because as I think you’ve all learned, the intelligence agencies have run amok,” the president said Tuesday. “They run amok.”

Johnson visits Belfast

New British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Wednesday finished a rocky debut tour of the U. K. in Northern Ireland, where he faces the double challenge of fixing the collapsed Belfast government and finding a solution for the Irish border post- Brexit.

After facing protests and political opposition in Scotland and Wales, Mr. Johnson convened with the leaders of Northern Ireland’s five main political parties in hopes of kick- starting efforts to restore the suspended Belfast administration.

Northern Ireland’s 1.8 million people have been without a functioning administration since the Catholic- Protestant power- sharing government collapsed over a botched energy project in January 2017. The rift soon widened to broader cultural and political issues separating Northern Ireland’s British unionists and Irish nationalists.

But a breakthrough did not look imminent. Opponents say Mr. Johnson can’t play a constructive role in Northern Ireland because his Conservative government relies on support from the Democratic Unionist Party, the largest of Northern Ireland’s pro- British parties. Without the votes of the DUP’s 10 lawmakers, Mr. Johnson’s minority government would collapse.