Free Republic

Strategic patience for the win? Iran's regime leaders thought they could force the US to buckle by strangling the global economy at the Strait of Hormuz. The US, however, has an actual blue-water navy, and that tends to matter in blockades involving a country entirely reliant on sea trade for its only valuable export economy. As the Wall Street Journal concedes, Donald Trump's Hormuz blockade is a lot less "leaky" than the IRGC's. And as Trump himself pointed out yesterday, the Strait may not matter for very much longer anyway:By squeezing the Strait of Hormuz, both the U.S. and Iran...

Today, 40 years ago, four armed men hijacked a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight during its stopover in Karachi, triggering a 17-hour hostage crisis. The standoff ended in a bloody commando assault that killed several passengers, including 23-year-old Indian flight attendant Neerja Bhanot, who later came to be known for her extraordinary bravery in saving lives. Pan Am Flight 73 was a Mumbai-Frankfurt-New York flight carrying 379 passengers and crew when it was hijacked during its stopover in Karachi on September 5, 1986. The four hijackers had disguised themselves as airport security personnel before storming the aircraft. Hindustan Times reported the following...

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was “surprised” by the announcement of a plea deal between a U.S. military commission and three accused plotters of the 9/11 attacks, a Pentagon spokesperson said Monday, adding that Austin wants to see the case go to trial Austin, who revoked the plea deal Friday, “was certainly surprised as we all were,” said deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh. “This is not something that the secretary was consulted on,” Singh told reporters at a Monday briefing. “We were not aware that the prosecution or defense would enter the terms of the plea agreement.” The Office of...

Let's Examine Mass Killings in Recent History and Islamism The Muslim Turks murdered, either directly or indirectly, between 1.5 and 2.5 million Christians between 1894 and 1924. It was also a jihad, or "holy" war.Sudan, 1953–2004: Some 4 million dead. Written in September 2005: Genocide in Darfur – How the Horror Began , Sudan Tribune, 3 September 2005. Copied here: Racism and Islamism in Khartoum... Perhaps the most destructive civil conflict since World War II and one of the longest wars in Africa's history, it saw the Christian and animist South pitted against the Muslim, Arab-speaking North. As many as...

The US military has awarded an $80 million contract to a prominent Saudi financier who has been indicted by the US Justice Department. The contract to supply jet fuel to American bases in Afghanistan was awarded to the Attock Refinery Ltd, a Pakistani-based refinery owned by Gaith Pharaon. Pharaon is wanted in connection with his alleged role at the failed Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI), and the CenTrust savings and loan scandal, which cost US tax payers $1.7 billion. (ABC News Photo Illustration)The Saudi businessman was also named in a 2002 French parliamentary report as having links to...

The elderly grimace, hobbling on crutches, and wide-eyed children stare, cradling chickens carried from homes they were forced to leave behind. "It feels good to be in my own country," 35-year-old Nazia says, just minutes after she crosses from Pakistan, where she was born, into Afghanistan. The Torkham crossing, known as "Zero Point", is where one hard life ends and another begins. "But I've never been to Afghanistan before and many people here don't even have enough bread to eat," Nazia sighs as she heads, two of her children in tow, toward registration counters festooned with white and black Taliban...

On Friday, August 7, 2026, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey signed a defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, referred to by many as a “(Sunni) Muslim NATO.” U.S. president Donald Trump praised the agreement without considering the consequences for America or its ally Israel, as well as how Greece and India would react to this deal. In a post shared on social media, Trump said he was “very happy” that the three countries had signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, adding that it showed the Middle East was “coming together” and would allow countries to defend themselves “in a more...

After winning the Michigan Senate Democrat primary by falsely accusing his opponent of working for Israel, Abdul El-Sayed headed for a Pakistan Independence Day celebration. At the Pakistan Association of America, El-Sayed spoke out for ousted Pakistani dictator Imran ‘Taliban’ Khan notorious for his persecution of Christians and for harboring Osama bin Laden. The PAA had formerly been headed by Asad Malik who appears to have met in person with Khan and who also served as a board member at the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC): not to be confused with the American-Pakistani Political Action Committee (APPAC) which was...

Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) is an investigative reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation where he broke arguably one of the biggest scandals in the history of the federal government — one the media refused to cover and the prosecutors refused to prosecute. This is the story of Awangate, which proved no match for Russiagate — but should have on its merits. It is the subject of Rosiak’s Obstruction of Justice: How the Deep State Risked National Security to Protect the Democrats, a book that has taken on new significance as the treasonous Russian collusion narrative collapses. I had Luke Rosiak...

Iran has been invited to join the Mecca Agreement for Mutual Defense, the new security alliance established by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan earlier this month, Al Mayadeen reported on Saturday, citing a senior Iranian official. The invitation has not yet been officially confirmed by Iran's Foreign Ministry or by any of the three countries that are parties to the agreement. Mehdi Rahimi, head of the Iranian parliament's Khaneh Mellat news agency, told the channel that "Iran has received an invitation to join the Mecca Agreement, and the matter is under review." Rahimi added that countries in the region "are...

The West needs to take note of a growing threat that could in the long term prove to be equal to or worse than the threat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. “Pakistan Asks Muslim Nations To Join ‘Islamic NATO,’” NDTV, August 10, 2026:Pakistan’s Defence Minister Khawaja Asif has called for Islamic nations to set aside their differences and join Islamabad’s defence agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey to form a military alliance along the lines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). Talking to Geo News, Asif said the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement shouldn’t be an ‘exclusive club’ and...

Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have signed a joint defence agreement, saying an attack on one of them would be seen as an attack on all three. The pact was announced at a meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in the Saudi city of Mecca. The three countries have been looking to strengthen security ties as the war between the US and Iran has drawn in Saudi Arabia and disrupted maritime traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil shipping channel, and the Red Sea. Saudi...

Nearly five years after the last American troops left Afghanistan, al-Qaeda is again finding both sanctuary in the country and an audience far beyond it. A new report from Europol warns that jihadism remained Europe’s most widespread form of terrorism in 2025, accounting for 24 of the 45 terrorist attacks reported by European Union member states and 347 terrorism-related arrests. More ominously, the report finds that al-Qaeda is exploiting the war in Gaza to regain influence and incite attacks against Western and Jewish targets. The group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, has been particularly aggressive. Europol reports that...

A leaked intelligence document from Pakistan central intelligence indicates that expanding United States troop concentrations near the Persian Gulf provide capabilities for a sudden limited invasion of southern Iran. A leaked intelligence document originating from Pakistan central intelligence agency and shared with Arab media indicates that the concentration of United States military forces in the Middle East provides President Donald Trump with operational capabilities to execute a sudden invasion of southern Iran. The intelligence assessment, compiled from direct military observations and electronic surveillance, indicates that American naval, air, and ground deployments near Iranian territory expand daily. This force build up...

Maria Shahbaz, a 13-year-old Christian who was forced to convert to Islam after being abducted last year, must be provided with access to her family and psychological support, Members of the European Parliament demanded while passing a new resolution on the human rights situation in Pakistan earlier this month.

The police freed them only after they abandoned their complaint against the Muslims who attacked them. As in Pakistan and elsewhere, Christians in Egypt can expect no sympathy or protection from authorities. If Muslims victimize them, those authorities will all too often side with the people who are doing the victimizing, as a Muslim will know that if he defends Christians against Muslims, he will face opprobrium (and possibly violence) from his fellow Muslims. Also, Muslim police officers know that the Qur’an tells Muslims to be “ruthless to unbelievers, merciful to one another.” “Police arrest Christian victims after attack on...

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will set out on Monday the legal steps she will take to deport the freed ringleader of a Rochdale grooming gang. Shabir Ahmed, jailed for 22 years in 2012 for multiple counts of child sexual offences including rape, was released from prison on licence earlier this month. Calls have mounted across the political spectrum for the deportation of Ahmed, who was stripped of his British citizenship following his conviction, leaving him with only Pakistani nationality. But he cannot be deported due to a 1971 law that forbids the removal of a small group of Commonwealth citizens...

The unexplained attacks have added a dangerous new layer of uncertainty to an already volatile conflict, raising concerns that additional countries may now be conducting military operations against Iran without publicly acknowledging their involvement.New Airstrikes Came After U.S. Said Its Campaign Had EndedThe U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) announced Thursday morning that it had completed a coordinated operation striking approximately 90 targets inside Iran.Yet only hours later, Iranian state media reported another wave of explosions and airstrikes across the southern provinces of Bushehr and Sistan and Baluchestan.Those attacks occurred after the United States had publicly stated its operation was complete.CENTCOM...

The Pakistan Airports Authority (PAA) said late on Tuesday night that a search and rescue operation was underway after an aircraft of K2 Airways with five crew members aboard was reported missing off the coast of Karachi. In a series of posts on X, the PAA said a K2 Airways Boeing 737 cargo flight was en route from Sharjah to Karachi at 2118 PST when it reported a navigational system issue and was promptly guided by the Karachi Area Control Centre.

SummaryKhamenei will be buried on Thursday in Mashhad, near Imam Reza's tomb Ceremonies are scheduled in Qom on Tuesday and Iraq's Najaf and Kerbala on Wednesday Iraqi, Armenian and Pakistani officials arrived in Tehran for the funeral DUBAI, July 3 (Reuters) - The body of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei lay in state in a vast hall in Tehran on Friday as clerics, officials, foreign ​dignitaries and other mourners paid their respects to Iran's late Supreme Leader, slain by U.S. and Israeli bombs.Iran is staging a week of mass funeral processions for Khamenei, whose 37-year reign was brought to ‌an end in...