Free Republic

When Bashar al-Assad’s regime collapsed in December 2024, Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa declared that he would embrace a “zero problems” foreign policy, in the hopes that would help break the country’s isolation and solve some of its economic problems. The prospect of a stable Syria enticed at least $28 billion in investment deals from Middle Eastern countries in 2025, and even more has been secured so far in 2026. The continuation of that trend amid the current war with Iran has amplified Syria’s central geopolitical and economic pitch—that it can be a potentially transformational corridor for energy flows, commercial...

It was the kind of sweeping, last-minute demand that would have torpedoed most diplomatic talks: President Donald Trump insisting this week that in exchange for him ending the war with Iran, several Arab and Muslim countries should sign on to his Abraham Accords to normalize their diplomatic relations with Israel. But there’s been almost no response from any of the countries that Trump mentioned by name — more than half of whom already have diplomatic relations with Israel — and no statement of support from an Israeli government that would reap enormous benefits from such a deal. Analysts said Trump’s...

The so-called 'divider' and 'racist' has both Jewish and Arab grandchildren and he's spending his presidency stitching together the geopolitical map...When the media screams “racist,” I look at Trump’s family and laugh. One daughter married a Jew. Another married an Arab. And he embraces both families without hesitation. That alone blows a crater in the cartoon they keep selling: “the snarling bigot terrified of foreigners.” Ivanka did not just marry a Jew; she became one: orthodox conversion, Shabbat candles, a fully Jewish home... Tiffany married Michael Boulos, a Lebanese Arab from a prominent Greek Orthodox family with deep Middle Eastern...

Mehek Cooke@MehekCookeTrump just turned the Abraham Accords into an accountability trap for the Gulf states and Iran walked right into it.Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Turkey have never held Iran accountable is due to exposure. They share a neighborhood. They can't sanction, shame, or confront Iran while having zero security architecture binding them to the West or to each other.The Abraham Accords change that math entirely. Once Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Egypt, and Turkey are signatories, they aren't just recognizing Israel they are locking themselves into a collective security posture.A breach of the Iran deal becomes their problem...

On Sunday, President Donald Trump said the deal that they are working on will involve "no dust, no dollars" and will not be like the failed Iran deal of Barack Obama, that it will be a good deal, or there will be no deal. He clapped back at criticism from people he said didn't know the Now, Trump has dropped a big update to the deal — that ultimately, it could turn out to be a more far-reaching peace deal. He said negotiations were proceeding "nicely" with Iran. Trump announced on Truth Social that he had held a conference call...

0:00: There's a fascinating news item that um that was released in Israel just yesterday and it came out on Khan News 0:088 seconds: in Hebrew. Khan News is one of the major mainstream news outlets in Israel. And I want to read this to you. It I only saw 0:1717 seconds: it in Hebrew, so I translated it into English. And I want to read it to you in full and talk about the implications of this and what I think of this news story 0:2525 seconds: because I think it has huge implications if it's true for not...

As Hezbollah’s grip weakens and war fatigue deepens, a growing number of Lebanese are beginning to see peace with Israel not as betrayal but as necessity For Hanin Ghaddar, returning to Lebanon would mean more than just going home. It would signal that something once unthinkable may finally be within reach: a country loosening itself from Iran’s grip and edging, however cautiously, toward peace with Israel. A veteran Lebanese journalist from a Shi’ite family in a village in southern Lebanon, Ghaddar was targeted by Hezbollah and forced to leave her homeland in 2016. And despite growing up with her country...

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a fence-mending visit to the Vatican on Thursday to underscore strong bilateral ties, after U.S. President Donald Trump's broadsides against Pope Leo XIV for his opposition to the Iran war angered the Holy See and sparked ongoing sparring between them. The U.S. State Department said that the meetings with Leo and the Vatican's top diplomat covered peace in the Middle East and "underscored the strong relationship between the United States and the Holy See," and reflected the "enduring partnership" between them.

The United Arab Emirates said Monday that Iran launched missile and drone attacks against the country, putting at risk the already shaky ceasefire between the United States and Tehran. The White House did not immediately respond when asked whether the reported attacks, which led the UAE to activate its missile alert system for the first time since the ceasefire began on April 8, would violate that truce. Stock market indices fell, and oil prices rose on news of the attack, raising investors’ fears that the war’s impact on the global economy could be exacerbated or prolonged. “The UAE’s air defenses...

Europe will not submit to a more “brutal world”, and can instead be the base from which a new international order can be rebuilt, Mark Carney, the Canadian prime minister, has said. Carney was speaking as the first non-European leader to attend a meeting of the European Political Community, which opened on Monday amid high tensions in the strait of Hormuz and renewed doubts about the US commitment to Nato. “We don’t think that we’re destined to submit to a more transactional, insular and brutal world, and gatherings such as these point to a better way forward,” he said. In...

Iran’s regime lost the war the moment American force and economic pressure exposed its bluff; what remains is the slow collapse of a terror state running out of money, options, and time.Some nearly stochastic notes on Iran. I begin by singing the same song I have been crooning since President Trump announced the ceasefire and naval blockade in mid-April. The war is over. If this were a novel, we’d be in epilogue territory where we tie up some loose threads in the plot and learn about the fates of various characters.First, let’s talk about money, or rather Iran’s lack thereof....

The missiles and bombs may have stopped, at least for the moment, but the war between the US and Iran continues. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the US sanctions remain in place, and the fundamental issues separating the combatants remain unresolved. The bilateral negotiations have gone nowhere, and the two sides remain far apart. This stalemate has puzzled observers since it’s not hard to see the outlines of a deal. For Iran, the minimum acceptable goal is regime survival. For the US, it is the end of the Iranian nuclear program, which poses an existential threat to America’s regional...

The shock announcement Tuesday comes after the UAE was the target of missile and drone attacks for weeks by fellow OPEC member Iran. Tehran’s attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has also severely constrained the UAE’s ability to export oil, threatening the foundation of its economy. The UAE has played an influential role in OPEC’s decisions over nearly six decades. It was the group’s third-largest oil producer in February behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. The UAE’s OPEC membership originated with the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1967, seven years after the organization was founded. The UAE came to...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is quitting the Opec and Opec+ groups of major oil producing nations next month after nearly 60 years of membership. The UAE said its decision would help it meet growing global energy demand in the long term after recent investments to boost its production capacity. It is seen as a blow to the cartel, with one analyst describing the exit as "the beginning of the end of Opec". The Gulf state's energy minister said being a country with no obligation under the groups would give it more flexibility. Opec was formed in 1960 by five...

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will exit OPEC on May 1. “This decision follows a comprehensive review of the UAE’s production policy and its current and future capacity and is based on our national interest and our commitment to contributing effectively to meeting the market’s pressing needs,” the UAE energy ministry said in a statement.

With Hezbollah’s Iranian patron on the ropes, Jerusalem gets another shot at completing the job it was forced to pause two years ago. It took barely 48 hours after the United States and Israel began their joint operation against the Iranian regime for Hezbollah to fire rockets at Israel. As it became clear that regime decapitation was part of the operation’s objectives, the group’s involvement was all but inevitable. Israel retaliated immediately with a wave of targeted strikes and has now begun limited ground operations in south Lebanon, even as its air force maintains an unprecedented tempo of sorties over...

Job 23:10-11 (King James Version) But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. Listening to the Buggy Whip Press explaining the Iran attacks to the American people is like watching a monkey typing Shakespeare. Trump has such an amazing gift of exposing everyone for exactly who they are and what they are not. Nobody believes them or listens to them since they know the standard reporting will be Trump bad Iran good, so why listen...

RunTime 15 m 23 s ... the U.S. and Israel’s major combat operations against Iran, announced by President Trump as Operation Epic Fury, are being miscast as “Iraq 2.0” and “regime change.” She cites Trump’s message to Iranians to “take over your government” and JD Vance’s statement that there is “no chance” of a years-long Middle East war, framing the strikes as targeted to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions rather than an occupation. Barbara shows Iran’s leadership has long served a British-centered financial system rooted in the 1908 BP oil concession, reinforced by events such as the 1953 Mossadegh coup and...

(WHTM) – U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) is reacting Saturday morning to the United States and Israel’s attack on Iran. The attack, which reportedly appeared to target the compound home to Iran’s 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in downtown Tehran, comes as President Donald Trump claimed Iran has continued to develop its nuclear program and plans to develop missiles to reach the U.S. “President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” said Fetterman on social media. “God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”

Yigal Carmon, President and cofounder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), issued a blunt warning to President Trump in a Daily Brief published January 30, 2026: Hamas and similar Islamist groups are locked into a jihadist ideology that no amount of economic prosperity can break. Carmon argues that even if Gaza were rebuilt into a luxurious "Middle East Riviera" with beaches and hotels, these groups would still prioritize ideology such as martyrdom and Israel's destruction, over material comforts or the "good life" ideal, which he argues motivates the West. He points to pre-October 7 Gaza, where residents enjoyed...