Tuesday morning news: May 22, 2018

Pompeo outlines Iran strategy » In a major policy address Monday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo laid out the administration’s Iran policy following President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear treaty earlier this month.

Pompeo said the U.S. will impose the strongest sanctions in history to put “unprecedented financial pressure on Iran.” He also laid out strategies to stop it from destabilizing the Middle East. 

POMPEO: I will work closely with the Department of Defense and our regional allies to deter Iranian aggression. We will track down Iran operatives and their Hezbollah proxies operating around the world and we will crush them.

Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, Pompeo laid out conditions Iran must meet before the U.S. would consider another nuclear deal, starting with a full accounting of its prior nuclear activity.

POMPEO: Iran must stop enrichment and never pursue plutonium reprocessing. Iran must also provide the IAEA with unqualified access to all sites throughout the entire country. 

Pompeo also demanded that Iran release American citizens it is holding. Tehran has yet to respond to the demands. 

Haspel swearing in » Gina Haspel took the oath as as the new director of the Central Intelligence Agency Monday. President Trump was on hand and noted the ceremony’s historical importance.

TRUMP: As Gina becomes the first woman ever to lead the CIA.

Haspel said it was an honor to lead what she called the finest workforce in government. She made light of her rocky confirmation hearings.

HASPEL: It has been nearly 50 years since an operations officer rose up through the ranks to become the director, and after the experience of the last two months, I think I know why that is.

Most Democrats and a few Republicans in the Senate opposed her nomination for her involvement in waterboarding terrorists after 9/11. 

China considers ending birth limit » China is reportedly on the verge of completely scrapping government restrictions on the number of children parents can have.

For nearly 40 years, that number was one. But in 2015 the communist government approved some two child families to counter a rapidly aging population.

The change hasn’t had the impact officials expected, and elimination of all restrictions could come later this year.

China’s one-child policy led to some 336 million abortions over the last four decades, according to government records.

Ebola vaccine used in Congo » Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have a new weapon to fight Ebola. WORLD’s Africa reporter Onize Ohikere has details.

ONIZE OHIKERE, REPORTER: 7,500 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine called RVSV ZEBOV arrived in the Equator Province of Congo Monday.

Doctors will now begin vaccinating those who have come in contact with people infected with Ebola. Twenty-six people have died in that region and officials believe nearly 50 more have contracted Ebola.

More worrisome, four cases have been reported in Mbandaka, a city with 12 million people. Ebola is deadly if left untreated.

Reporting for WORLD Radio, I’m Onize Ohikere.

Paraguay moves embassy to Jerusalem » Paraguay moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Monday, following the historic move by the U.S. last week.

Paraguay’s President Horacio Cartes was on hand for the ribbon cutting, as was Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu said “a great day for Israel, a great day for Paraguay, a great day for our friendship.”

Guatemala moved its embassy to Jerusalem last week, just two days after the U.S. move. 

Paraguay and Guatemala are among only a handful of countries supporting President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

I’m Jim Henry. Straight ahead: new CDC figures show the U.S. birth rate is dropping. This is The World and Everything in It.

(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative public policy think tank, in Washington, Monday, May 21, 2018. 

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