New York's socialist mayor Mamdani is under fire on three fronts — a canceled Iran meeting, an immigrant map that erased Italian, Irish, and Jewish neighborhoods, and a big pay raise — framed as bad news for critics who see him running the city against Washington.

• A top Mamdani official planned to meet Iran's UN ambassador, but the State Department stepped in and killed it — the second time federal officials have blocked his team's foreign contacts.
• Critics call this a "soft secession," with New York acting like it has its own foreign policy, immigration rules, and economy separate from the rest of the country.
• A city immigrant-neighborhood map left out Little Italy and the historic Irish and Jewish areas while featuring Palestinian, Yemeni, and Bangladeshi ones, sparking accusations of erasing the groups that built New York.
• A mayor-appointed commission recommended an 18.2% raise, pushing his pay above $300,000 — more than the vice president, secretary of state, and secretary of defense make.
• Meanwhile his rent freeze is blamed for record-high rents, as landlords stop maintaining units they can't charge more for and the city's housing shortage worsens.

Outlook: Expect more federal pushback on Mamdani's foreign outreach and growing anger from residents as rents climb and the pay-raise fight plays out.