Free Republic

Walid Phares, one of US President-Elect Donald Trump's foreign policy advisers, has confirmed that the upcoming administration plans on creating a coalition with the GCC, Jordan and Egypt in counter-terrorism efforts. Phares also confirmed during an interview with the BBC that Trump will plan on recalling the Iran nuclear deal and re-discussing it in congress before resubmitting it to EU partners, clarifying that the next US administration will demand key changes to agreement. During the campaign, Trump said the Iran deal was one of the worst agreements ever negotiated. In a USA Today op-ed in September of 2015 Trump said,...

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Thursday warned about Iran’s drive to carry out terror attacks. His comments were made during a meeting with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem. “We would like to take advantage of the great opportunities of the new world, but there are those who would like to take us backward to the old world of the dark and murderous Middle Ages, and we are partners in the war on radical Islamic terror,” said Netanyahu. […] “We are determined to do two things: First, prevent Iran from achieving nuclear weapons and...

President-elect Donald Trump's threat to sink Iranian ships was "just a joke" according to one of the country's generals. "The person who has recently achieved power, has talked off the top of his head! Threatening Iran in the Persian Gulf is just a joke," General Mohammad Hossein Bagheri said, according to The Times of Israel. He added that presidential candidates in the United States "eat too much sugar" during campaigns, referring to a Farsi proverb about talking nonsense. Trump said in September that Iranian ships attempting to provoke America "will be shot out of the water" if he were president.

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said there was “no possibility” of its nuclear deal with world powers being overturned by US president-elect Donald Trump despite his threat to rip it up. “Iran’s understanding in the nuclear deal was that the accord was not concluded with one country or government but was approved by a resolution of the UN Security Council and there is no possibility that it can be changed by a single government,” Rouhani told his cabinet, according to state television. Last year’s accord with world powers saw international sanctions on Iran lifted in exchange for guarantees that it would...

Just when western oil majors started resuming investments in Iran’s oil and gas after the lifting of the sanctions, the election victory of Donald Trump – who has spoken against the nuclear deal that led to lifting of said sanctions – may make international oil companies rethink their enthusiasm in bidding in Iran’s new oil and gas contract tenders. Last month, Iran invited international E&P companies to start pre-qualifying for bidding under the new petroleum contract models approved in September. But in March of this year, Trump said in a speech addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee: “My number-one...

Up to 150 people have been detained in Iran after the morality police raided what has been described as a mixed-gender party near Tehran. In the sweltering heat and as people spend more time outside, the authorities tighten their grip on social norms, cracking down on activities deemed un-Islamic. Such restrictions have become a regular feature of Iranian life since the 1979 Islamic revolution, as members of the morality police appear on the streets, or are deployed in vans at public places, to tackle women defying the compulsory hijab, men with non-approved hairstyles, or males and females partying together. Mohsen...

A lieutenant commander within Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps is celebrating the 37th anniversary of the U.S. Embassy takeover in Tehran by threatening that if the United States does not keep its end of the nuclear deal, Iran will render the deal void, or “send the deal to (the) Museum,” according to Iranian media sources. "The Iranian nation is bound to its nuclear commitments, but this commitment is not a one-way street," Brigadier General Hossein Salami said at a commemoration of the Embassy takeover and subsequent hostage crisis in Tehran.

This past April, Treasury's acting under-secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence spoke at a Washington, D.C. forum and delivered remarks that demonstrated what I long suspected: the politicization of the Department of Treasury's enforcement arm.  Recent developments have confirmed my fears.  As a former Treasury special agent, I am appalled at what has been happening. Reading a prepared statement, the under-secretary discussed the Iran sanctions program and described how it helped pave the way to the "Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action" (JCPOA) or the long-running negotiations with Iran that will postpone Iranian nuclear weapon development.  Sitting in the audience that...

Israel's mounting alarm at Hezbollah's reported acquisition of increasing numbers of long-range missiles stems in part from concern for the security of the country's emerging infrastructure. Jane's Intelligence Review reported the Israelis are concerned that their drive to develop an energy infrastructure built around the natural gas fields recently discovered in the Mediterranean off the northern port of Haifa would be put at risk by Hezbollah's swelling arsenal. The magazine, published in Britain, said the "relatively unsophisticated nature of Hezbollah's arsenal means that the militants' ability to successfully target individual critical energy sites in and around Haifa would be limited....

Billionaire Sheldon Adelson has committed $25 million to an anti-Hillary Clinton super PAC, just one week before the presidential and congressional elections are decided on Nov. 8, according to a Fox News report late Monday. Republican sources told the cable news station that Adelson may dump an additional $25 million on top of this donation into races for the White House, Senate and House of Representatives in the next few days as well.

It has been revealed that there are about 650,000 emails on Huma Abedin’s husband’s laptop. Of the 650,000 emails, thousands are labeled “classified” National Security material forwarded from another email server. According to sources, the emails were discovered in a folder labeled, “Life Insurance”. Is it possible the folder was mislabeled by Abedin to deliberately conceal its contents? This also begs the question: How did Huma Abedin get National Security clearance? The NY Post explains where FBI originally dropped the ball when they first investigated Abedin: Skeptical agents showed Abedin three separate email exchanges she had with an IT staffer...

When news broke that the FBI had told Congress it had found new emails that may be related to Clinton's use of a private server while secretary of state, speculation about a Clinton White House was quickly replaced by questions about whether a winnable race might slip from her grasp.

The FBI got a warrant to search Anthony Weiner’s laptop for new evidence in the Hillary Clinton email scandal, setting off a mad dash to try and finish the massive job before Election Day, law-enforcement sources told The Post Sunday. Weiner shared the laptop computer with his now-estranged wife, top Clinton aide Huma Abedin, and the feds believe there are around 650,000 emails stored on it, with many from Abedin’s accounts, the Wall Street Journal reported. “FBI agents are reviewing the emails as we speak,” one source told The Post. Metadata found on Weiner’s laptop computer — seized as part...

Obama's decision to commence the attack on Mosul appears to have been made without any real thought to the possible involvement of the PMU and Turkey President Obama’s decision 14 days ago to approve Iraqi and Peshmerga forces undertaking the liberation of Mosul has well and truly blown up in his face with the news that the Iran funded Shiite Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) have now joined in the attack.

Iran’s justice minister has said the country should execute fewer people and revise its death penalty laws, local media reported Sunday. “These last years, the quantity of executions has not been effective. As a result, there must be a revision of the death penalty law,” said Mostafa Pourmohammadi, according to the Tasnim news agency. “The judiciary as a whole shares this opinion,” he said. Pourmohammadi called for “alternative penalties,” but said it was not possible to abolish capital punishment entirely because “there are corrupt people in the country for whom there is no alternative but execution.”

The Canadian government, headed by Prime Minister and Liberal party head Justin Trudeau is working to renew ties with Iran, claiming there are political benefits to a Canada-Iran relationship for Israel as well. Canadian Foreign Minister Stéphane Maurice Dion spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in Montreal on October 17, saying the federal government is determined to play an active role in UN organizations, to strengthen the UN position and to take part in UN peacekeeping efforts across the globe. …

Attorney General Loretta Lynch is declining to comply with an investigation by leading members of Congress about the Obama administration’s secret efforts to send Iran $1.7 billion in cash earlier this year, prompting accusations that Lynch has “pleaded the Fifth” Amendment to avoid incriminating herself over these payments, according to lawmakers and communications exclusively obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.

Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini has recently come forward to show his gratitude and support for Donald Trump in this upcoming election. While the pastor from Boise, Idaho was stuck in a Iranian prison for three and a half years simply because of his faith, Donald Trump gave Abedini’s family $10,000 to help provide for his family in need. In a Facebook post on Sunday Abedini wrote “I am finally free in a free country. Last year on the same day I was sick and in chains for Christ, and now I can vote to choose my next president.” “And most...

Pastor J.D. talks about the presidential election and its profound prophetic implications, not just for America, but the entire world, specifically concerning Israel, Russia and Iran.

A typically low seasonal demand in Europe will lead to Iran exporting 1.89 million bpd of crude oil next month, the lowest level since July, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing a source with knowledge of Iran’s tanker schedule. As a rule of thumb, Iranian crude oil exports usually hit low levels around the months of October and November due to the peak in refinery maintenance in Europe and Asia. This year around, however, the November exports to Asia will rise from October due to higher Chinese demand. This year, Iran has been rapidly bumping up oil production and exports after...