Free Republic

Evidence of Iranian official under diplomatic cover Asadollah Asadis' contacts with the regime officials are recorded chats, that have been collected by European intelligence services,” According to the western official, the intercepts provide strong evidence of Mr. Asadi’s involvement in the foiled plot to bomb the Paris gathering called “Free Iran 2018 / The Alternative” rally European security officials have intercepted communications that suggest Asadollah Asadi an Iranian official under diplomatic cover was not only involved in a plot last year to bomb the rally outside Paris but coordinated efforts with colleagues back in Iran. The question is that who...

Satellite images from the company DigitalGlobe reveal a likely launch of an Iranian satellite between Feb. 5 and 6. Industry experts have suggested the launch failed just after liftoff... A previous Iranian launch failed on Jan. 15, according to a report from AP News. That imaging satellite, called Payam ("message"), failed during operation of the rocket's third stage. This was a newer, larger rocket than that used for the Doosti launch. The U.S. government has criticized Iran's space program for possibly helping the nation develop nuclear weapon capabilities, according to the AP. Iranian officials have classified both failed launches as...

DUBAI - Iran’s Revolutionary Guards inaugurated a surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of 1,000 km (621 miles), the semi-official Fars news agency reported on Thursday, ignoring demands Western demands that Tehran halt its missile program. Fars published pictures of an underground missile factory called “underground city”, saying the “Dezful” missile was a version of the Zolfaghar missile that has a 700 km range and a 450 kg (992 lb) warhead. Iran says it has missiles with the range of up to 2,000 km, which puts Israel and U.S. military bases in the region within reach. The EU has stepped...

blew up bridges on the Euphrates river held by Iranian militias several days ago, according to a report. This is the first time the Russians attacked Iranian targets in Syria. The information came from a senior Syrian official who refused to be identified, and was reported in Bas News, a Kurdish news website.

Senior security official in Tehran says ‘calculated measures’ will by used as a deterrent to prevent further attacks on ally A senior Iranian defense official warned on Tuesday that his country will hit back at Israel if it continues to carry out airstrikes in Syria. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s National Security Council, made the threat as he held talks with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem in Tehran. “If these actions continue, we will activate some calculated measures as a deterrent and as a firm and appropriate response to teach a lesson to the criminal and lying rulers...

There was a great deal of news this past week about President Trump’s audacious disregard for the advice and warnings from his own intelligence community experts. Perhaps there’s good reason for alarm. But I think there’s one shocking aspect — perhaps a larger story — that’s gone virtually unreported. It appears that anonymous intelligence officials are executing an operation against the sitting commander in chief. It might not qualify as all-out mutiny, but it’s also not all that far from one. Right under our noses, while still under investigation for allegedly orchestrating leaks and undermining candidate Trump in 2016, some...

U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard has a message for President Donald Trump: “Being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not ‘America First.’” Gabbard sent the tweet to @realDonaldTrump earlier this morning, ratcheting up criticism of the president’s continued support for the country despite the CIA’s conclusion that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Hey @realdonaldtrump: being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not “America First.” — Tulsi Gabbard (@TulsiGabbard) November 21, 2018 “If we abandon Saudi Arabia, it would be a terrible mistake,” Trump told reporters outside of the White House Tuesday. “We’re with Saudi Arabia. We’re staying...

The Israeli government released a report Sunday claiming to reveal close links between the Palestinian-led boycott movement against Israel and militant groups. Israel’s Strategic Affairs Ministry, which leads the country’s efforts against the boycott movement, said it uncovered extensive connections between pro-boycott groups and activists affiliated with Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Boycott, Divest and Sanctions movement dismissed the report as “wildly fabricated.” The 80-page report claims several dozen current or former members of the Palestinian groups, both designated terrorist organizations by the U.S., European Union and Israel, are involved in BDS activity through...

His name is Touraj Esmaeeli, and you haven’t heard it before. And yet, he’s a big story. He worked as a top advisor to the Iranian intelligence service, as an expert on that country’s cyberwar against the United States and other Western countries. Several of his colleagues have been arrested since last spring, accused of spying, but the spybust hasn’t been widely covered. Esmaeeli scooted off to Istanbul, where he first checked in to a hotel and then barely escaped a combination of Iranian and Turkish agents who had come to arrest him. He has taken refuge in a Western...

An active Venezuelan general called on the armed forces to rebel against President Nicolas Maduro and to recognize the opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim chief as pressure at home and abroad grows on the head of state to step down. In a video circulating on Twitter on Saturday, General Francisco Yanez of the air force's high command, said most of the armed forces already disavowed Maduro, who claims he is victim of a coup directed by the United States. "People of Venezuela, 90 percent of the armed forces of Venezuela are not with the dictator, they are with the...

CARACAS - Venezuela will sell 15 tonnes of gold from central bank vaults to the United Arab Emirates in coming days in return for euros in cash, a senior official with knowledge of the plan said, in a bid by the cash-strapped country to stay solvent. The sale of gold reserves that back the Bolivar currency began on Jan. 26 with a shipment of 3 tonnes, the official said, and follows the export last year of $900 million of unrefined gold to Turkey.

Former Secretary of State and failed Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry said that “our democracy might not be able to survive four more years of Donald Trump” in a fundraising email to supporters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) on Wednesday. “I’m worried about the state of our democracy under Donald Trump,” Kerry wrote. “This president’s complete disregard for diplomacy has embarrassed our nation on the world stage and he’s weakened the very foundation of our democracy.” Kerry then accused Trump of dividing Americans at home and isolating America from the rest of the world.

Former US president Barack Obama lied to Saudi Arabia when violating the redlines he famously declared regarding Syria’s use of chemical weapons and then not acting when they were used, a former senior Saudi official said in an interview with Independent Arabia. Bandar bin Sultan served for years as head of Saudi intelligence as well as the Saudi ambassador to the United States. In the interview, he recalled a last phone call between the late Saudi King Abdullah and Obama, during which the Saudi leader told the US president: “I did not expect that [after] this long life, I would...

President Barack Obama lied when he said his administration would retaliate if Syria used chemical weapons and claimed he "would promise something and do the opposite", setting the Middle East back 20 years, a former top Saudi official has claimed. Bandar bin Sultan, who served as the head of Saudi intelligence and later as the Saudi ambassador to the United States, lashed out against Obama in a wide-ranging interview with the Independent Arabia, a newly launched publication in London. He said that the late Saudi King Abdullah told Obama in their last phone call that “I did not expect that...

FULL TITLE: World War 3: ‘Resistance axis’ of Iran, Syria and Hezbollah ‘planning for war with Israel’ HEZBOLLAH has warned it could team up with Iran and Syria to bomb Israel, and is already planning for “the next war”, the Lebanese group’s leader has said, ramping up tensions in the region still further. Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said Hezbollah made his comments as he responded for the first time to Israel's discovery of tunnels dug into Israeli territory from Lebanon by claiming his organisation had "for years" been able to enter Israel. Israel's unveiling of what it called Hezbollah "attack tunnels"...

Amid ballistic missile tests by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and continued economic and political isolation, Iran’s domestic unrest is escalating. Angry Teachers in the provinces of Kermanshah, Alborz, Isfahan and Ardabil rallied on Thursday, Jan, 24, 2019 protesting delayed paychecks and poor living conditions. Skyrocketing prices of every day goods and inflation are becoming major concerns for these hard-working and yet deprived teachers throughout the country. Teaching is one of the most appreciated professions today. Unfortunately, in Iran, the situation is just the opposite: teaching is one of the most poorly paid professions in the country. In recent years, teachers in...

The front page of the New York Times Sunday Review featured one of the most biased, poorly informed, and historically inaccurate columns about the conflict between Israel and Palestine ever published by a mainstream newspaper. Written by Michelle Alexander, it is entitled, “Time to break the silence on Palestine,” as if the Palestinian issue has not been the most overhyped cause on campuses, at the United Nations, and in the media. There is no silence to break. What must be broken is the double standard of those who elevate the Palestinian claims over those of the Kurds, the Syrians, the...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu secured another diplomatic victory for Israel with the dramatic announcement that Chad and the Jewish State would be reestablishing diplomatic relations. The Muslim majority nation had severed ties in 1972 following intense pressure from Libya, its menacing neighbor to the north, which at the time was led by the dictator, Col. Muammar Qaddafi. But following a visit by Chad’s President Idriss Déby to Jerusalem and a reciprocating visit by PM Netanyahu to N’Djamena, forty-seven years of animosity instantly vanished. Israel’s historic diplomatic achievement occurred despite intense efforts by the Palestinian Authority and Iran to torpedo the...

RABAT (Reuters) - Morocco softened its rhetoric on Syria on Wednesday, with its foreign minister signaling support for calls among some Arab states for a return of Damascus to the Arab League. {snip} ...Arab states, including some that once backed rebels against President Bashar al-Assad, are seeking to reconcile with him after decisive gains by his forces in the war, aiming to expand their clout in Syria at the expense of non-Arab Turkey and Iran. The Moroccan position on Syria comes after Lebanon’s caretaker Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil called last Friday for reinstating Syria ...

John Kerry on his message to Trump: 'Resign' By Owen Daugherty - 01/22/19 12:18 PM EST Former Secretary of State John Kerry had a simple message for President Trump on Tuesday, saying he should “resign.” Kerry was speaking on a discussion panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when he was asked what his message to Trump would be, according to CNBC. Kerry was at first hesitant to answer the question, saying Trump "doesn't take any of this seriously.” “He doesn’t have an ability to have that kind of conversation,” Kerry said after debating whether to answer or...