Free Republic

Iran has the world’s largest gas reserves and is fourth in the world in terms of oil reserves after Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada. It also possesses a number of mines including zinc, copper and iron ore which are among the richest in the world. Iran’s natural and historic treasures can render the country one of the most attractive tourist destinations in the world. Its population is one of the youngest on the planet, and the business traditions coupled with its history can provide the basis for entrepreneurial growth. Unfortunately, despite all this, Iran’s economy is crumbling. Iran is in...

Armed protesters fired on the unarmed Iranian soldiers in a parade yesterday, killing 30. This was not ISIS but a local group, displaying the division and weakness within Iran. More on the downing of the Russian plane and the slow but seemingly inexorable path toward war, due to the financial threats on Russia, Iran, and Turkey. This is still the calm before the storm but the dark cloud of the Ezekiel War can be seen. More comments on America's role in all of this, and a report on Amir's ministry here in the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump will fail in his confrontation with Iran, just like Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Iranian President Hassan Rohani said on Saturday, referring to the war between the two Middle Eastern powers and vowing that Tehran will not abandon its missiles. Tensions have ramped up between Iran and the United States after Trump withdrew from a landmark multilateral nuclear deal in May and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic last month.

With rising unilateralism challenging its very existence, the United Nations convenes its annual meeting of world leaders Monday and will try once more to tackle problems together as a community of nations, addressing threats ranging from Mideast conflicts to the effects of global warming — and also encouraging the glimmer of hope over the nuclear standoff in North Korea. This year, 133 world leaders have signed up to attend the General Assembly session, a significant increase from last year’s 114. Secretary-General António Guterres called the expected large turnout “eloquent proof of the confidence of the international community in the United...

Connections between the Kremlin and international terrorism extend back for decades. The KGB helped develop modern terrorism. It provided weapons to terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, helped devise aircraft hijackings during the 1960s, and promoted the concept of suicide bombings against both military and civilian targets. According to KGB defectors, the FSB successor has continued to sponsor terrorists such as Ayman al-Zawahiri, who trained in Russia in the 1990s before joining Osama bin Laden. During its proxy attack on Ukraine, Moscow supplied the missile system to separatists who shot down a Malaysian Airlines jet, killing nearly 300 civilians. The West has...

Gunmen fired on a military parade in southwestern Iran on Saturday, killing 25 people, almost half of them members of the Revolutionary Guards, state news agencies reported, in one of the worst attacks ever on the elite force. State television said the assault, which wounded more than 60 people, targeted a stand where Iranian officials had gathered in the city of Ahvaz to watch an annual event marking the start of the Islamic Republic’s 1980-88 war with Iraq. An Iranian ethnic Arab opposition movement called the Ahvaz National Resistance, which seeks a separate state in oil-rich Khuzestan province, claimed responsibility...

https://www.un.org/undpa/en/securitycouncil Given the fact that President Trump announced yesterday via Twitter that he will Chair the UN Security Council meeting on 9/26/2018 I suspect that all the member nations may be sending a higher ranking representative as well. This would naturally raise the interest in the entire world to watch the LIVE feed. A link to this live feed will likely appear on the UN Security Council website and the security at this meeting is likely to be the highest level the world has ever seen. I am posting this live thread to start a discussion on FR and essentially...

TEHRAN, Iran — Gunmen attacked an annual Iranian military parade Saturday in the country's oil-rich southwest, killing at least 24 people, including eight members of the country's elite Revolutionary Guard, and wounding 53 others, local media reported. Iran's state-run IRNA news agency cited "knowledgeable sources" without elaborating. It said gunmen were dressed in Guard uniforms and targeted a riser where military and police commanders were sitting. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the assault in Ahvaz, which saw gunfire spray into a crowd of marching Guardsmen, bystanders and government officials watching from a nearby riser. However, Iran faced a bloody...

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday accused the administration of US President Donald Trump of being a threat to the Middle East and to the international community. “It is true that there is a real threat to our region and to international peace and security: That threat is the Trump Administration’s sense of entitlement to destabilize the world along with rogue accomplices in our region,” Zarif wrote on Twitter. “The US must start acting like a normal state,” he added. …

An Israeli veteran of the 1948 War for Independence dissects the revisionist myth of Palestinian innocence To back up its demands for full repatriation to Israel of Arab refugees and their descendants, the Palestinian leadership has—for over fifty years—busily spun the story of their "Naqba," their catastrophic flight from Palestine during 1947-48, in all the media available to them. This version of events—replete with Jewish brutality and Arab victimization—is a lie whose time has come, one now almost universally believed by Gentile and Jew alike. It has become the latest Blood Libel against the People of the Book; and like...

https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1043128595231604738?s=21

History is recorded daily, whether we like it or not. History isn't what happened, but the stories of what happened and the lessons these stories include. Iran is deteriorating faster than we thought, almost to the point of no return. The Iranian people are aware that after 40 years of complete devastation by the rulers of the Islamic regime, they no longer want the Islamic Republic. In an interview with the Associated Press, Reza Pahlavi remarked, "We all know that regime change is the ultimate formula." Mr. Pahlavi is a harsh critic of the clerical rulers who have dominated Iran...

The U.S. military Tuesday said it supported a plan to establish a demilitarized zone in northern Syria that would separate rebels in their last stronghold from advancing government forces. The agreement to create a buffer zone was worked out Monday in a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held in Sochi, Russia. Russia’s defense minister said that under the agreement, Syria would refrain from launching an offensive on Idlib Province, the last major rebel stronghold.

The trilateral summit in Tehran between the presidents of Turkey, Iran and Russia was one of the most unusual parades of international diplomacy yet. It was televised live. Let’s remember the scenes: All who watched it saw how Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan blundered and how Russian President Vladimir Putin ridiculed him. Then it was a rare — if not unique — case of international diplomacy where a trilateral partnership considered detrimental to the interests of the West displayed signs of failure on a burning international issue.What has had the West — the transatlantic security system — worried for some time is NATO-member Turkey’s partnership...

All of this diplomatic traffic is about the impending Syrian military operation into the Idlib province of Syria where around three million are living. The Syrian army, backed by Russia, is aiming to eliminate the jihadist terrorists, which have been controlling the province since early 2017. Turkey has 12 military outposts around Idlib, as part of a three-way agreement with Russia and Iran. Turkey has three main concerns: First, a large-scale operation without distinguishing civilians from terrorists can create a huge catastrophe. Second, it can kick another influx from Syria towards Turkey, complicating the already difficult refugee problem in the...

In a telegram earlier Monday, Putin had "stressed that the results of the vote fully speak of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's great political authority..." © Provided by AFP In a telegram earlier Monday, Putin had "stressed that the results of the vote fully speak of Recep Tayyip Erdogan's great political authority..." Russian strongman Vladimir Putin on Monday congratulated Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on his re-election triumph in a phone call, after saying the result showed the Turkish leader's "great political authority" and mass support. On the call Putin and Erdogan confirmed their interest in "deepening partnership ties between the two...

The Israeli army has stated that all intelligence on the Russian aircraft downed in Latakia on Monday will be shared with Moscow. The Israeli army statement said when the Syrian air defense systems fired the missiles that downed the Russian aircraft, Israeli Air Force had already returned to Israeli air field. The Israeli army argued that the incident had been caused by the Syrian air defense systems’ “extensive and inaccurate” fire. The statement said, “The Syrian anti-air batteries fired indiscriminately and from what we understand, did not bother to ensure that no Russian planes were in the air.” The Israeli...

Small Miracle: For most of POTUS Donald Trump’s presidency thus far, The New York Times has committed journalistic malpractice on a regular basis, publishing fake news and outright lying about his policies. But in what has become the latest proof that small miracles do occur, the paper is actually praising the president’s Iran policy, saying that it is “working” as he intended for it. “When Trump announced the U.S. would withdraw from the Iran deal, experts feared it would hurt the economy and leave Iran free to restart its nuclear program. But, so far, the policy has been effective without...

In a significant symbolic blow to the Iranian regime, the Volkswagen Group — the world’s biggest selling car manufacturer last year — has reportedly agreed to end almost all of its operations in Iran, in line with the restoration of U.S. sanctions on Tehran. The news was disclosed by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who since taking up his Berlin posting in May — he presented his credentials on the same day President Trump announced the U.S. was exiting the Iran nuclear deal — has been encouraging the host government to isolate Iran and urging German companies to stop...

"Militants and activists of the White Helmets continue fabricating the sham scenes that will feature the alleged use of chemical weapons inside the Idlib zone of de-escalation. The filming of these fakes are already taken place in some Syrian districts. Notably, the organizers forced the Syrians abducted previously in Idlib and Aleppo Governates to take part in the filming." Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebanzya at UN Security Council 9/18/2018 Russia is moving forward with Turkey to clear out a buffer zone in the Idlib region by October 15th. But the Russians also say jihadists are planning a fake attack using...