Free Republic

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned Monday, March 10, that because the world chooses to slide over Iran’s concealed nuclear program, the next Klos C ship may not carry missiles but “nuclear suitcases.” They would not only reach an Israeli port, he said, but any port in the world. He spoke at Israel’s naval base in Eilat at the presentation of the 60 missiles, 181 mortar shells and hundreds of bullets unloaded from the Klos C that was apprehended by Israeli commandos on the Red Sea opposite Sudan last week. Present too were defense minister Moshe Ya’alan, chief of staff Lt....

The Muslim terrorist group Qa’adat el-Jihad claimed responsibility Saturday for a terrorist bombing in Burgas, Bulgaria. The bombing in Bulgaria last week killed five Israelis, one a pregnant woman. The Lebanese paper El-Nashra reported that the group, which has ties to Al-Qaeda, claimed responsibility in an email to the Arab press.

Masoud Jazayeri says the ‘low-IQ’ president’s ‘all options are on the table’ remarks are a farce; warns against US strike President Barack Obama is a “low-IQ US president,” whose threat to launch a military offensive should nuclear talks fail is an oft-cited punchline in the Islamic Republic, particularly among children, an Iranian general said on Tuesday. “The low-IQ US president and his country’s Secretary of State John Kerry speak of the effectiveness of ‘the US options on the table’ on Iran while this phrase is mocked at and has become a joke among the Iranian nation, especially the children,” General...

The Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in Russia’s parliament, Mikhail Margelov, said on Monday that his country expects all economic sanctions against Iran to be removed immediately, Israeli daily Ma’ariv reported. “There have been important developments. President Hassan Rouhani has openly declared that Iran has no intention to develop an atomic bomb,” Margelov said. ”Furthermore, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, has issued a decree that prohibits the building of a bomb, calling it ‘a sin.’ ” As a result of these public statements, Marglov concluded, “The conditions have now been met to justify the full lifting of sanctions on...

The son-in-law of the elderly couple killed this week in a package bomb explosion at their Tennessee home has been charged in the case, authorities said Thursday evening. A grand jury returned indictments of felony first-degree murder and felony first-degree premeditated murder against Richard Parker, 49, police said at a press conference. Authorities would not elaborate on how they came to identify him as the suspect, and said he was arrested at his home on Thursday.

(Newser) – The wife of a retired lawyer who was killed by a mail bomb this week has also died, reports the Tennessean. Marion Setzer, 72, had been listed as seriously injured in Monday's explosion. Meanwhile, police trying to get to the bottom of the bombing may have found a vital clue. Among the debris from the blast—which occurred near the front of Jon and Marion Setzer's rural Tennessee home after he picked up the package from his mailbox 200 yards away—was a note police believe was attached to the bomb. Though they aren't telling what it says, a bomb...

<p>Police officers were investigating a reported marijuana-growing operation when they discovered a homemade bomb and bomb-making materials in a suitcase, the news release said.</p> <p>Vladislav Miftakhov, a Russian citizen, was arrested and charged with possessing a weapon of mass destruction, risking a catastrophe and drug-related offenses. He was arraigned Friday and bail was set at $500,000, Blair County corrections officer James McMahon said Sunday.</p>

Israeli PM states Rouhani engaged in ‘campaign of fraud’; also says Israel won’t dismantle Jordan Valley settlements Israel estimates that Iran has spent at least $160 billion on its drive to nuclear weapons, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday At a press conference in Davos, where he is attending the World Economic Forum, Netanyahu dismissed Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s claim that Iran is not seeking the bomb, and said Iran was engaged in a “campaign of fraud” to mislead the world about its nuclear weapons aspirations. Referring to Rouhani’s speech in Davos on Thursday, Netanyahu was witheringly critical: “He said...

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shrugged off Iran's purported agreement to stop enriching uranium above 5 percent. Speaking before Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper addressed the Knesset, Netanyahu told parliamentarians the Islamic Republic will resume uranium enrichment at a time of its choosing. "The agreement in Geneva did away with the 20 percent stop, but left the train on its track and enables Iran to upgrade the locomotive by developing new centrifuges so when the day comes, it can leap in a very short time to the final stop on an express track, without stopping at an...

In the spring of 2006, a veteran Democratic senator visiting Boston was asked at a small gathering what the Democratic Party’s strategy was to address the advancing specter of Iranian nuclear capability. “I don’t know,” he confessed. “With any luck Israel will do something about it and the rest of us will publicly blame Israel.” The senator was not being snide. He was being candid: For many Democrats, the Iranian nuclear issue is suffused with, if not dominated by, wishful thinking. For the Democratic left, economic sanctions on Iran have been regarded with ambivalence. In late 2007, as the Democratic...

President Obama urged Congress on Monday to "give diplomacy a chance," imploring lawmakers to hold off on additional sanctions against Iran as negotiators seek to take advantage of a six-month interim deal. "It's going to be difficult, it's going to be challenging, but ultimately this is how diplomacy should work," Obama said, adding that the negotiating window formalized over the weekend should give world powers "the time and space" they need to formalize a permanent deal with Tehran. "My preference is for peace and diplomacy, and this is one of the reasons why I've sent the message to Congress that...

Hours after the announcement of former Israeli prime minister Ariel Sharon’s death, a Twitter feed associated with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday tweeted quotes from the Shiite leader critical of the general-turned-statesman. Sharon had been in a coma for almost exactly eight years since suffering a massive stroke, and died Saturday afternoon at age 85. Quoting from previous speeches by the supreme leader, @Khamenei_ir variously called Sharon a “vampire” and a “vulture” and Israel’s “last hope.” While world leaders voiced sorrow at the loss of one of Israel’s greats, Iran stood out in its criticism of the...

Palestinians hurled two improvised grenades at Israelis in Bethlehem on Monday evening in two attacks, injuring one civilian. An explosive was thrown at Rachel's Tomb, causing injuries to one man, who was evacuated to hospital by paramedics. Earlier, an explosive was thrown at an IDF base in the area. No injuries were reported in that attack. Monday's events are the latest indication that Palestinian violence is on the rise, though Israeli policymakers and defense experts remain doubtful that we are on the cusp of a third intifada. Last week, news outlets learned of a secret report by one of the...

The bomb that was used to blow up a Dan bus in Bat Yam last month was remarkably similar to the bomb that was used in the Boston Marathon terror attack in April of last year. The bomb that exploded last month on an evacuated public bus in central Israel closely resembled the type used in the Boston Marathon attack. The explosive in Bat Yam was enclosed in a pressure cooker and was activated by a cell phone, according to the Shin Bet security service.  ... The bomb, which was placed in a black backpack with wires sticking out,...

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian military commander reiterated that the country's military might has prevented enemies from launching military attack against Iran, and stressed that the country is fully capable of targeting US and Israeli interests in the region. “The enemy is aware that the Islamic Republic has the power to destroy the US and Israeli illegitimate interests in the region and can deliver them serious and crippling blows,” Deputy Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Brigadier General Masoud Jazayeri said on Monday. He dismissed the US war rhetoric against Iran, and said due to Iran's high...

DUBAI - Iran resumed technical talks with world powers in Geneva on Monday, a vital step in implementing a nuclear deal signed last month which suspends key elements of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The talks between expert teams from Iran and six world powers are meant to translate the political deal into a detailed implementation plan by the end of January, Iran's state news agency, IRNA, quoted an unnamed source as saying. A key sticking point appears to be how much advance information Western governments will get so they can verify that Iran is meeting...

Federal agents who detained a college student after an airport screener found him carrying Arabic-English flashcards with such words as “bomb” and “terrorist” cannot be sued for their actions, a U.S. appeals court said Tuesday. Reversing a lower court ruling, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia said three Transportation Security Administration agents and two FBI agents were entitled to qualified immunity over Nicholas George’s five-hour detention at Philadelphia International Airport on Aug. 29, 2009.

Hardline Iranian lawmakers are seeking to increase the nation's uranium enrichment to 60 percent to “provide fuel for submarine engines.” The bill is expected to give Tehran an upper hand if the Geneva deal, which limits enrichment to 20 percent, fails. Some 100 lawmakers have introduced the bill under a “double urgency status,” which means it may be debated in the Iranian parliament within a week, the official IRNA news agency reported. If the bill is approved, it will oblige the government “to enrich uranium to 60 percent in order to provide fuel for submarine engines if the sanctions are...

MK Orit Struk of the Jewish Home (Bayit Yehudi) party called on the Israeli government to stop releasing Arab terrorist murderers from jail, following the terror attack Sunday on a bus in Bat Yam, south of Tel Aviv. The release of the murderers has been presented to the public as a “gesture” accompanying “peace talks” with the Palestinian Authority (PA). "The release of terrorists is the fuel on the fire of the terrorism that is returning to our streets,” MK Struk said. “I call on the government to stop the release of terrorists and bring back sanity, responsibility and security...

Iran and the six major world powers have agreed to resume a fresh round of expert-level talks on Iran's nuclear energy program following the Christmas holidays. The agreement came in a telephone conversation between Iran Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton, who represents the six powers in nuclear talks with Tehran, on Sunday. Zarif and Ashton also discussed the latest outcome of recent expert-level talks between Iran and the six countries over the past four days in the Swiss city of Geneva. The Iranian minister and EU foreign policy chief agreed that both sides...