Free Republic

Earthquake hits near Iran’s current nuke plant Russia announced on Monday that it would start construction this year on a second nuclear plant in Iran, according to regional reports. Russia’s Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation made the announcement early on Monday, stating that it will begin building a second nuclear power plant in Iran’s southern region later this year, according to Iran’s state-controlled Fars News Agency. Meanwhile, an earthquake struck Monday morning near the site of Iran’s current nuclear power plant in Bushehr, near where the second plant will be built. Iranian media outlets reported the quake as hitting a...

US President Barack Obama tells Channel 2 in an interview that he can “demonstrate” that a “verifiable” agreement with Iran will be the best way to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. “I can, [I] think, demonstrate, not based on any hope but on facts and analysis, that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable tough agreement. A military solution will not fix it, even if the United States participates. It would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program but it would not eliminate it,” he says. Asked whether Israel may attempt a military strike...

WASHINGTON - The White House is confident it can still pursue Iran nuclear talks despite US Secretary of State John Kerry's injury over the weekend, a spokesman said on Monday. Kerry left Europe for the United States earlier on Monday after breaking his leg in a cycling accident on Sunday. "We do continue to believe that we have the time and resources necessary to pursue, and hopefully complete, the Iran negotiations," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters in a briefing. He added that Kerry would continue to play a critical role in the talks, although it was unclear exactly...

Our fallen heroes, our country, and our civilization deserve no less, no less than our best efforts and no less than our best sense Any reasonable stance about the nature of Islam invites both reasoned and unreasoned Commentary, and from all sides of the spectrum of belief systems. When discussing Islam it seems as if the perspectives we’re stuck with are those of the mink-wearer—vs. the mink. Certainly these two perspectives cannot be reconciled. So it seems with the nature of Islam. Even when we boot irrational arguments from the room, many legitimate but diametrically opposed arguments remain standing.

FIFA is expected to vote on whether to expel Israel and whether to reelect Sepp Blatter President. The Presidential vote will be at 10am ET. Vote on expelling Israel if it happens will come before that. Sepp Blatter is expected to easily win reelection despite the ongoing scandal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Thursday that acceding to the Palestinian demand to suspend Israel from FIFA threatened to unravel the international soccer organization. In an interview with reporters in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu commented on Friday’s upcoming vote to oust Israel at the FIFA congress in Zurich, calling it a “blatant intrusion of politics into the field of sports.” According to Netanyahu, who is also an avid soccer fan, “sport has become an arena of goodwill and cooperation between peoples, and because of that an attempt to attack Israel in FIFA will cause FIFA to collapse.” The prime...

BUREIJ, Gaza Strip — On Friday, the annual congress of FIFA, the governing body of world soccer, is scheduled to vote on a proposal to suspend Israel from the organization. The Palestine Football Association called for this measure because Israel prevents our national team from participating in normal training, travel and competition. If the corruption scandal now enveloping FIFA derails the vote, we will continue to press the issue. The Palestine national team has belonged to FIFA since 1998, but we do not trust the current president, Sepp Blatter, to represent our interests. Past assurances to act have not been...

.....FIFA, the powerful and polarizing governing body for soccer, came under prosecutorial assault from two fronts Wednesday. Acting on an indictment by the U.S. Justice Department, Swiss police arrested several top FIFA officials, including two vice presidents, during an overnight raid in Zurich on charges of corruption Wednesday. The U.S. investigation targets alleged wrongdoing that spans 24 years. U.S. prosecutors issued arrest warrants for 14 people, on charges ranging from money laundering to fraud and racketeering.

A sign was hung in a public square in Antwerp, Belgium threatening Mayor Bart De Wever with death if he did not convert to Islam, Belgian media reported Sunday. The message was written in French, one of the three official languages of Belgium, the others being Dutch and German. Het Laatste Nieuws reported (via Google Translate): “By N-VA chairman Bart De Wever again death threats walked. In a letter drafted in French which was hung on the Handschoenmarkt, the mayor of Antwerp was threatened with execution if he did not convert to Islam. How serious the threat should be taken...

Statement from Washington Post Executive Editor Martin Baron ahead of Jason Rezaian’s trial in Iran: The shameful acts of injustice continue without end in the treatment of Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian. Now we learn his trial will be closed to the world. And so it will be closed to the scrutiny it fully deserves. It’s worth recalling what kind of system we’re dealing with. Jason was arrested without charges. He was imprisoned in Iran’s worst prison. He was placed in isolation for many months and denied medical care he needed. His case was assigned to a judge internationally notorious...

According to first unconfirmed reports, central Tehran was hit Sunday night with massive blasts leaving many hundreds of people dead. Witnesses report heavy Revolutionary Guards and Basij forces speeding to the area. Thee are also reports of explosions in the southern Iranian town of Isfahan - also unconfirmed.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei stated this week that Iran "will not allow any inspections of military sites by foreigners." He also vowed to resist "coercion and excessive demands" on the part of a "brazen enemy," meaning the U.S. U.S. President Barack Obama was not overly concerned by those statements. A nuclear agreement with Iran is essentially a done deal as far as Obama is concerned, so Iranian rhetoric no longer carries any weight. So goes the thinking at the White House. In fact, Obama is much more perturbed by what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on election day some...

JASON REZAIAN, a journalist who was born and raised in California, moved to Iran in 2008 with the hope of promoting a better understanding of his father’s homeland. After joining The Post in 2012, he wrote about political and economic issues but also took on such subjects as Iranian baseball. He earned the respect of senior officials: Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, has called him “a friend” and “a good reporter.” Mr. Rezaian nevertheless is scheduled to go on trial Tuesday, along with his wife, Yeganeh Salehi, and a photographer, in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court. Arrested at home July 22,...

As part of a final nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 world powers (U.S., UK, Germany, France, Russia, China), Tehran has demanded at least twenty-four days notice before inspectors are allowed to review their nuclear enrichment sites, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has reportedly disclosed. ABC News reports that Fabius said Iran has demanded the 24-days prior notification from International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear inspectors before they can visit any of the sites. For years, the IAEA has claimed that Iran continues to forgo transparency in its drive towards nuclear weapons development, refusing access to inspectors who wish...

On the subject of those notorious talking points, Zarif said: I do not believe that the practice of producing fact sheets is a very useful one. The world has gone through a significant change. You cannot pick and choose your audience anymore. In the past, you could present your version of reality, your narrative to your audience, and the other side could have presented their narrative to their audience. But today in the age of the Internet and social media, narratives become global – and that’s where the problem comes. So you need to be able to present the final,...

There is an illusion that the promised agreement with Iran regarding its nuclear program will push it toward moderation, as well as economic and political openness. What will probably happen is the complete opposite. The agreement will empower Tehran’s hawks, who are currently being marketed in Iran and who are bragging that most of the nuclear program has been accomplished and that the West has finally submitted and abandoned sanctions. During the past few months of international negotiations, Iran’s security fist tightened against state rivals, voicing the regime’s self-confidence. The Kurdish rebellion a week ago in the city of Mahabad,...

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — An Army officer stripped of a medal for heroism under fire and his right to call himself a Green Beret is fighting for his military career after accusations he tracked down and killed a suspected bomb-maker in Afghanistan. Though a criminal investigation failed to find remains of his alleged victim and didn't result in charges against Maj. Mathew Golsteyn, he's been targeted for possible dismissal from the Army and the consequent loss of veteran's benefits with a less-than-honorable discharge. A Fort Bragg hearing before three, higher-ranked Special Forces officers could meet later this month to weigh...

...Obama called Mr. Morsi...the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood [party] defeated Mr. Shafiq, the last prime minister of former President Hosni Mubarak, by 51.7 percent to 48.3 percent in the election held one week ago. Mr. Obama “underscored that the United States will continue to support Egypt’s transition to democracy and stand by the Egyptian people as they fulfill the promise of their revolution,” the White House said in a readout of the call...

One hundred and fifty members of Congress – all Democrats and, among them, most of the small group of bitterly anti-Israel lawmakers – signed a letter supporting President Obama’s diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis the Iranian nuclear weapons program. Authored by Reps. Jan Schakowsky (Illinois), Lloyd Doggett (Texas), and David Price (North Carolina), the letter exemplifies the hyper-partisanship that has driven the left wing of the Democrat party on this issue even as that wing has cried “partisan extremism” at the responses from Republicans. As if trying to prove Churchill right, this Iran Surrender Caucus, whenever presented with a choice between dishonor...

Iran is optimistic that it can reach a final nuclear deal with world powers, its foreign minister said in an excerpt of an interview with Germany's Spiegel magazine published on Friday. "An agreement is very likely - provided that our negotiation partners mean it seriously," Mohammad Javad Zarif told Der Spiegel. Zarif criticized Saudi Arabia, which has voiced concern that a nuclear deal could embolden Iran and harm its security. "Some people in the region are evidently panicking," he said, adding there was no reason to do so. "We don't want to dominate the region. We are happy with our...