Free Republic

President Donald Trump on Wednesday boasted the U.S. has “total control” of the Strait of Hormuz, despite what the “FAKE NEWS” may report to the contrary, before praising Allah for the nation’s stranglehold on the critical shipping passage. “I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it.” The president repeated claims that Iran’s military had been decimated: "They have no Navy, they have no Air Force, their remaining soldiers are unpaid, the IRGC is decimated and fleeing,...

US President Donald Trump has been weighing the possibility of declaring victory against Iran without achieving a nuclear deal, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing US officials. According to the officials, Trump privately floated the idea to his senior aides. If the US can keep Iran's nuclear program in check and traffic resumes in the Strait of Hormuz, then Trump would be more likely to extend the ceasefire "indefinitely," the officials told WSJ. In recent weeks, the president told senior aides privately that Tehran is "likely unable to revive its nuclear work," after Operation Midnight Hammer caused heavy...

The maximalists wanted regime change, the minimalists wanted nothing, and the doubters see only waffling. Carafano’s answer: the victor gets to define victory — and everywhere you look, the region is moving Trump’s way. Iran War Turns into Trump Middle East Triumph: We are about to see the biggest reshaping of the Middle East since Moses led the Jews out of Egypt. Like the pharaoh, who missed every warning sign up to the parting of the Red Sea, the critics and questioners of Trump’s tug-of-war with what’s left of the Iran regime seem obtuse to the prophetic truth that the...

The Fake News, as usual, is spreading false and completely unfounded rumors. I am extremely happy with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing. Everything has been extraordinary, including our attack on Venezuela, where the result was accomplished in less than one day, allowing us to bring one of the worst criminals anywhere in the World, Nicolas Maduro, to Justice! Likewise, Iran, where the country has been decimated for the purpose of NOT ALLOWING IT TO EVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, is going very well! Pete is highly respected within the Military, and has made tremendous improvements, including getting rid...

Donald Trump clashed with Pete Hegseth over a claim that a US munitions shortage could limit his options in the Iran war, according to reports. The US president confronted his defence secretary at Camp David, his country retreat in Maryland, demanding to know why he had been misled about the missile shortage. The clash occurred on the sidelines of Mr Trump’s cabinet meeting on Friday, at which he said that he thought the missile issue “had been fixed”, two people familiar with the matter told the Washington Post. The White House dismissed the claims as “fake news”, denying that the...

Anger over depleted US weapon inventories broke into the open at Camp David, where President Donald Trump pressed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth on why he had been kept in the dark regarding severe missile deficits that are now restricting military maneuvers against Iran, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing two individuals familiar with the matter. According to the report, the tense interaction occurred on the sidelines of a Friday Cabinet meeting. Trump reportedly expressed sharp irritation, indicating he assumed the supply deficit “had been fixed", according to sources who spoke to The Post on the condition of anonymity....

Donald Trump says he has cancelled strikes against Iran provided a deal was struck "rapidly" with the country. In a post on Truth Social, the US president wrote that he had decided to "cancel the attack, subject to being able to rapidly make a DEAL" - which would include the immediate opening of the Strait of Hormuz and an end to "Iran's nuclear threat". Trump said the decision had been taken alongside Israel. The announcement came amid US media reports that Washington might have been planning new, intense strikes on Iran over the weekend. Tehran earlier accused the US of...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during his last in-person meeting at the White House, reportedly sold President Donald Trump on starting a war with Iran. Now, the GOP's America First wing fears he's about to pitch the president on ramping up attacks."I think all of President Trump's most ardent non-'Israel First' supporters are furious," said former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. "Netanyahu has had twice as many visits to the White House in 18 months as Churchill had in all of World War II — with every one of them a disaster for America First."The two men are set...

The top U.S. military commander in the Middle East recommended ending the bombing campaign around the Strait of Hormuz after concluding it reached the limits of its effectiveness, a recommendation that helped shape President Donald Trump's decision to pause strikes against Iran, Axios reported Sunday.Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, advised Pentagon leaders, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the White House last week that two weeks of sustained airstrikes had weakened Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping through the strategic waterway, multiple sources familiar with the discussions said.His assessment, combined with advice from other senior military officials,...

"No. 1 has been tried for the past 5 months with no effect. No. 1 has been tried since 2018 with no effect. No. 3 can't be done because Israel is against it, so everyone will blame Vance and call him an antisemite."

Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, a source familiar with the matter and a US official told CNN. On Friday night, the US appeared to pause its bombing campaign on Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of strikes. Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday. On Friday, Caine specifically raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile and other potential...

ISTANBUL—The conflict between the U.S. and Iran is escalating just as the two warring parties are running up against the limits of what they can achieve through military force.The conflict widened this week after Iranian-allied militants in Yemen began striking ships transiting a key Red Sea chokepoint, helping drive oil prices above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months on Thursday.The U.S., meanwhile, has escalated its bombing campaign in Iran in recent days, striking throughout the country during the most intense period of fighting since President Trump and Israel began bombing Iran in late February.Trump and other...

Yemen's Houthi rebels claim to have attacked the port city of Jazan, Saudi Arabia with ballistic missiles. Saudi authorities have not confirmed the strike, but a Saudi civil defense alert was issued for Jazan on early Saturday and bystander videos purporting to show fire damage are circulating on social media. NASA FIRMS fire monitoring data shows five substantial thermal anomalies - infrared signatures not present in previous time periods - located in the eastern half of the Jazan refinery, all within the last 3-6 hours. FIRMS infrared detections may stem from natural or routine events, like flaring, but the new...

A week after Iran killed American troops in Jordan, crossing President Donald Trump's red line for restarting all-out war, the U.S. military didn't launch airstrikes on the regime.Friday came and went without an announcement from U.S. Central Command about a new attack, breaking a nearly two-week streak.Sources told Axios that Trump received plans from the military yesterday to conduct strikes in Iran but didn't give a green light and instead ordered them to hold off.U.S. forces are still preparing for major combat operations to potentially resume, but Trump hasn't issued orders to move in that direction, the report added.The White...

President Trump has set aside, at least for now, plans to sharply escalate the American military assault against Iran, with particular concern that intensifying the war could dangerously drain the Pentagon’s already diminished stockpile of Patriot antimissile interceptors and other air defense munitions in the Middle East. The threat to interceptor stockpiles is one of many considerations that have made a return to major combat operations a hugely risky endeavor, administration officials say. Mr. Trump and his top aides are also uneasy about the prospect of a widening war in the Middle East, the alienation of key Gulf allies who...

President Trump halted new US strikes on Iran as he weighs whether Tehran is ready to cut a deal — while a wider regional war appears to be spreading into another critical shipping corridor. After 13 consecutive days of attacks, Trump instructed the US military to pause any additional strikes against Iran Friday, Axios reported Saturday, which cited two people familiar with the decision. But the president has made clear that the temporary halt does not mean Washington is backing down. In a brief phone interview with France’s LCI news, Trump said he was still prepared to restart a major...

Donald Trump flew into an expletive-laden rant in the Oval Office as he increasingly loses patience over the war he started in Iran, according to someone who overheard the angry meltdown. The president launched into a raging tirade against Iran's leaders, referring to them as "scumbags" and "lunatics," while also spitting out a series of expletives during the White House meeting, a person who heard the comments told The Wall Street Journal. It comes after Trump's 'diaper nurse' left devoted letters to the president in his room with intimate messages.

IRGC and Ayatoilets threaten Israel, attack Kuwait, threaten that if regime falls, they'll use their stockpile of missiles on Iranian cities, so nyah. Pahlavi is calling on people to rise. Iranian citizen got video out asking the US to attack the power plants, because the Iranian people get very limited access to electricity anyway, and only 1,000 civilians have been hurt during Epic Fury, and the IRGC has killed tens of thousands, both in January and in 2019 and 2017. Just remove the cancer, or they will come back stronger than ever (with nukes?) and obliterate you....

Disapproval of President Donald Trump’s handling of Iran hit a record high in July. A majority of voters oppose U.S. military action, and nearly two thirds think the conflict will last at least a year. The latest Fox News survey finds 56% oppose U.S. military action against Iran, including 40% who "strongly" oppose. More Democrats oppose the war (84%) than Republicans support it (76%). Voters increasingly expect a long-term commitment. Today, 64% think the war will last a year or more, up 13 percentage points since May. *** There is also doubt the conflict will produce an agreement. About half...

Iran has managed to rebuild a significant amount of infrastructure destroyed during its war with the US and Israel in recent months, ranging from bridges to missile bases, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The report, based on a review of satellite imagery, suggested that the speed at which Tehran is restoring its damaged capabilities is the reason why it is continuing to hold its own against the US after hostilities renewed earlier this month over disputes relating to the Strait of Hormuz. One set of satellite images showed that an access road leading to an Iranian missile base...