By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The Trump administration has barred Iranian diplomats based in or visiting New York from shopping at wholesale club stores like Costco and purchasing luxury goods in the United States without specific permission from the State Department.

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In notices to be published this week in the Federal Register, the department’s Office of Foreign Missions determined that diplomatic memberships in wholesale club stores as well as diplomats’ ability to buy items such as watches, furs, jewelry, handbags, wallets, perfumes, tobacco, alcohol and cars are a “benefit” requiring U.S. government approval.

However, the only country whose diplomats were specifically targeted is Iran. Stores like Costco have been a favorite of Iranian diplomats posted to and visiting New York because they are able to buy large quantities of products not available in their economically isolated country for relatively cheap prices and send them home.

The move is another step in the Trump administration’s crackdown on visas, including for leaders and diplomats seeking to serve as representatives at the United Nations. While world leaders are gathering this week for the high-profile annual meeting at the international body, the new U.S. restrictions permanently apply to any Iranian diplomats representing their country at the U.N. year-round.

The determinations, which were posted online Monday and to be printed Tuesday, said Iranian diplomats and their dependents must “obtain approval from the Department of State prior to: obtaining or otherwise retaining membership at any wholesale club store in the United States, to include but not limited to Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s Wholesale Club, and acquiring items from such wholesale club stores through any means.”

In addition, Iranian diplomats in the U.S. must also receive permission to purchase luxury items valued at more than $1,000 and vehicles valued at more that $60,000, said Clifton Seagroves, the head of the Office of Foreign Missions.

The items defined as “luxury goods” include watches, leather apparel and clothing accessories, silk apparel and clothing accessories, footwear, fur skins and artificial furs, handbags, wallets, fountain pens, cosmetics, perfumes and toilet waters, works of art, antiques, carpets, rugs, tapestries, pearls, gems, precious and semi-precious stones or jewelry containing them, precious metals, electronics and appliances, recreational sports articles, musical instruments, cigarettes and cigars, wine, spirits and beer.

Earlier this month, U.S. officials said they were considering the restrictions, which Seagroves signed on Sept. 16 and 18.

The Trump administration has already denied visas for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and his large delegation to attend the U.N. General Assembly. In addition to Iran, the administration also was considering restrictions to be imposed on delegations from Sudan, Zimbabwe and Brazil.

For three generations, Borchert’s Meat Market has been a constant for the community of Maplewood. But, after recent financial struggles and rising property taxes, the family store is at risk of closure and has turned to its community for help.

On Sept. 7, Josie Borchert started a GoFundMe to share the story of her parents, Dave and Donna Borchert, and the store that had been a staple of her childhood. She and her four brothers often rode their bikes or walked to for an after-school snack.

“There’s always been a store in this area, and it’s always been something that my brothers and I would go to and get a candy bar,” Josie Borchert said. “And then my dad started working here.”

Dave and Donna Borchert took ownership of the family store nearly a decade ago from its previous iteration, Richard’s Meat Market. With the suggestions of their five children, the couple began implementing changes such as adding an ice cream station and freshening up the interior.

They also began supplying locally sourced products, like their signature bratwursts and Minnesota-based beverages.

“It goes back to the meat counter, we’re part of Minnesota Grown,” Dave Borchert said. “I source everything as close as I can. I’ve always been a Minnesota boy that way.”

The trouble began during the summer, when the market fell behind on payments of its increasing property taxes. At the encouragement of Josie, the Borcherts turned to GoFundMe to raise their goal of $60,000.

“There are so many small businesses closing their doors to struggles, and you know, obviously, we’re not the only ones in the crisis,” Dave Borchert said. “We also have that finish line where we have that great opportunity ahead of us. We just have to make it to that point.”

Mik German, creator of 14 Spice and the chef/owner of 328 Grill in St. Paul Park, said the market and mom-and-pop shops like it are the heart of the community.

“We’ve become friends over the years, and to see them struggling like that, it really hurts,” German said. “It could easily be me, it could easily be any number of small businesses.”

As of a week since their GoFundMe went live, they have raised almost $15,000 in donations. Dave Borchert said the family is hopeful they will reach their goal and keep their doors open.

“It’s just insane how people can really come together and really have that family vibe,” Dave Borchert said. “Just trying to put it in words is very humbling.”

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By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s appointee to the Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors said Monday that the central bank’s key interest rate should be much lower than its current 4.1% level, staking out a position far different than his colleagues.

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Stephen Miran, who is also a top economic adviser to Trump, said in remarks to the Economic Club of New York that sharp declines in immigration, rising tariff revenue, and an aging population all suggest that the Fed’s rate should be closer to 2.5% instead. According to projections released last week, that’s almost a full percentage point lower than any of his 18 colleagues on the Fed’s rate-setting committee, an unusually high divergence.

Miran’s comments underscore the different perspective he brings to the Fed’s deliberations over interest rate policy. His appointment has been controversial because he has kept his position as the head of the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers while taking unpaid leave, raising concerns about the Fed’s traditional independence from day-to-day politics. His term on the Fed’s board expires in January, and Miran has suggested he would return to the White House after that, though he could remain on the board until a successor is appointed.

“It should be clear that my view of appropriate monetary policy diverges from those of other … members” of the committee, Miran said in written remarks. “I view policy as very restrictive,” he added, meaning that it is holding back the economy and “poses material risks” to the Fed’s congressional mandate of seeking maximum employment.

Miran said that fewer immigrants should free up more housing and lower rental costs, reducing inflationary pressures. And tariff revenues — which may top $300 billion a year, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates — should reduce the deficit, he added. Over time, that would mean the Fed doesn’t have to keep its benchmark interest rate as high as it is now to bring inflation down.

By JOSEPH KRAUSS, Associated Press

As the Gaza war rages on, France and Saudi Arabia are chairing a high-profile meeting at the United Nations on Monday aimed at galvanizing support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with more nations expected to recognize a Palestinian state in defiance of Israel and the United States.

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The meeting and expanded recognition of Palestinian statehood are expected to have little if any actual impact on the ground, where Israel is waging another major offensive in the Gaza Strip and expanding settlements in the occupied West Bank.

The meeting is set to begin at 3 p.m. ET (1900 GMT), with several world leaders expected to speak. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to address the meeting by video after he and dozens of other senior Palestinian officials were denied U.S. visas to attend the conference.

The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Portugal recognized the state of Palestine on Sunday, and the Palestinians expect a total of 10 countries, including France, to do so in the coming days. Around three-fourths of the 193-member United Nations recognizes Palestine, but major Western nations had until recently declined to, saying one could only come about through negotiations with Israel.

Palestinians have welcomed the moves toward recognition, hoping they might someday lead to independence. “This is a beginning, or a glimmer of hope, for the Palestinian people,” Fawzi Nour al-Deen said Sunday as he held a bag on his head, joining thousands of people fleeing south from Gaza City. “We are a people who deserve to have a state.”

International community widely backs a Palestinian state

The creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem — territories seized by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war — is widely seen internationally as the only way to resolve the conflict, which began more than a century before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack ignited the war in Gaza nearly two years ago.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government opposed Palestinian statehood even before the war and now says such a move would reward Hamas, the group that still controls parts of Gaza. He has hinted Israel might take unilateral steps in response, including annexing parts of the West Bank, which would put a viable Palestinian state even further out of reach.

Netanyahu is under pressure from his far-right coalition to move ahead with annexation, but the United Arab Emirates — the driving force behind the 2020 Abraham Accords, in which the UAE and three other Arab states forged ties with Israel — has called it a “red line,” without saying how it could affect the two countries’ now close ties.

Netanyahu said he would decide on Israel’s response to the Palestinian statehood push after meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House next week, their fourth meeting since Trump returned to office. The Israeli leader is set to address world leaders at the U.N. on Friday.

The Trump administration is also opposed to growing recognition of a Palestinian state and blames it for the derailment of ceasefire talks with Hamas. Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, walked away from the talks in July, and earlier this month an Israeli strike targeted Hamas negotiators in Qatar, a key mediator.

The Palestinians are politically fragmented

Abbas’ internationally recognized Palestinian Authority is led by rivals of Hamas and administers parts of the West Bank. It recognizes Israel, cooperates with it on security matters, and is committed to a two-state solution. France and Saudi Arabia have advanced a phased plan in which a reformed Palestinian Authority would eventually govern the West Bank and Gaza with international assistance. It was overwhelmingly supported by the General Assembly on Sept. 12 by a vote of 142-10. Twelve members abstained.

Israel says the Palestinian Authority is not fully committed to peace and accuses it of incitement to militancy. Many Palestinians view the leadership in the West Bank as corrupt and increasingly autocratic.

Hamas, which won the last Palestinian national elections in 2006, has at times hinted it might accept a state on the 1967 lines but remains formally committed to a Palestinian state in all of the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, including Israel.

Israelis and Palestinians held U.S.-brokered peace talks beginning in the early 1990s, but those efforts repeatedly stalled because of outbreaks of violence and Israel’s expansion of settlements aimed at cementing its control over the West Bank. There have been no substantive peace talks since Netanyahu returned to office in 2009.

Advocates of the two-state solution say that without a Palestinian state, Israel will have to decide between the status quo, in which millions of Palestinians live under military occupation without equal rights, or a binational state that might not have a Jewish majority.