Free Republic

With the nation watching, the host on Iranian state television asked the question that so many people in Iran — from the political elite to people on the street — were wondering. “People are very worried about the supreme leader,” the host said to an official from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office on Tuesday. “Can you tell us how he is?” He noted that viewers had sent a flood of messages asking the same thing. But the official, Mehdi Fazaeli, the head of Mr. Khamenei’s archives office, did not give a straight answer. Instead, Mr. Fazaeli said that he, too, had...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamanei, broke his silence on Monday hours after Iran’s attack on a U.S. base in Qatar. He posted a photo of a burning American flag in an area being bombarded by aerial attacks. “We did not attack anyone. And we do not accept anyone’s attack. And we will not surrender to anyone’s attack; This is the logic of the Iranian nation,” he said on X:

“America can’t do a damn thing against us,” Ayatollah Khomeini bragged while holding our hostages. The Carter administration had undermined the Shah’s government in favor of the Islamists who seized power and then prevented the embassy’s Marine guards from defending the facility and the people inside against the Muslim ‘student’ groups who claimed to be coming in peace. The “peaceful” student activists took over our embassy and held our people hostage. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei taunted President Trump with the same slogan in June after being asked to give up Iran’s nuclear weapons program. “Our response to the US nonsense...

President Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan quietly sought to arrange a meeting between senior U.S. and Iranian officials in Istanbul this week amid Israel's escalating war with Iran. But the effort collapsed when Iran's supreme leader — in hiding due to fears of assassination — couldn't be reached to approve it, according to three U.S. officials and a source with direct knowledge of the matter. -snip- Behind the scenes: Trump received a phone call from Erdoğan on Monday while meeting with G7 leaders in Canada. Erdoğan proposed hosting a meeting in Istanbul the next day between U.S. and...

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is being mocked mercilessly over a slew of bizarre social media posts that resurfaced as the Israel-Iran war broke out — including his musings about treating a woman right and even being “naughty&playful” as a school kid. The odd posts date back at least a decade and are in stark contrast to the anti-Israel and war rhetoric that now fills the social media feed of the 86-year-old leader and most senior cleric in the extremist Islamic Republic. In one from 2013, Khamenei recalled his awkward school days. “I went 2school w/a cloak since1st days;it...

FDD Iran Program Senior Director Behnam Ben Taleblu has weighed in on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reportedly handing over power to the IRGC.

Reza Pahlavi said he prepared a 100-day transition plan for establishing democratic rule, "by the Iranian people and for the Iranian people." Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of the last Shah of Iran, urged the country’s security forces and state employees to rise up against the Islamic regime, whose “fall has begun” in an “address to the Iranian nation” on Tuesday. “My fellow countrymen, the Islamic Republic has reached its end and is in the process of collapsing,” Pahlavi said in remarks in Farsi that were posted on his social-media channels. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, “like a frightened rat, has...

Following precise intelligence received by the IDF Intelligence Directorate and an emergent opportunity overnight (Tuesday), the IDF struck a staffed command center in the heart of Tehran and eliminated Ali Shadmani, the War-Time Chief of Staff, the most senior remaining military commander, and the closest remaining figure to Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Shadmani served as War-Time Chief of Staff and Commander of the Emergency Command of the Iranian Armed Forces. He commanded both the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and the Iranian army. At the start of the operation, he was appointed to command the Iranian Armed Forces after...

Developments continue apace in Israel and Iran, where the two bitter enemies will enter their fourth day of war. Earlier today, news reports had the Iranians asking erstwhile intermediaries to pressure Israel into cease-fire negotiations, albeit on the same terms as before -- with Iran maintaining its nuclear enrichment programs and with the usual "Death to Israel" and "Death to the Great Satan" messaging. That didn't work out so well, apparently, so the mullahs asked Vladimir Putin to intercede with Donald Trump. According to Israel Hayom -- and no one else so far -- Trump told Putin that he wasn't...

Israel’s NSC Director says Barak Ravid’s “reporting” is Fake News! Remember Ravid got honored by the Biden Administration. Who are his “American sources” & why are they ALWAYS ANONYMOUS?? https://t.co/He45WvPapq— Ellie Cohanim (@EllieCohanim) June 15, 2025

Ten years ago, when President Barack Obama and other leaders reached a deal with Iran to limit its nuclear program, Saudi Arabia was dismayed.Saudi officials called it a "weak deal" that had only emboldened the kingdom's regional rival, Iran. They cheered when President Trump withdrew from the agreement a few years later.Now, as a second Trump administration negotiates with Iran on a deal that might have very similar contours to the previous one, the view from Saudi Arabia looks quite different.The kingdom's Foreign Ministry issued a statement recently saying that it hoped the talks, mediated by neighboring Oman, would enhance...

Russia said Thursday that any attacks on its ally Iran would be unacceptable and illegal, warning of irreversible consequences if the U.S. were to bomb the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities. The Russian Foreign Ministry condemned President Trump’s threat to bomb Iran if a deal on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program is not reached, reiterating its support for Iran’s program.“The use of military force by Iran’s opponents in the context of the settlement is illegal and unacceptable,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said. “Threats from outside to bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure facilities will inevitably lead to an irreversible global catastrophe....

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Monday the U.S. would receive a strong blow if it acts on President Donald Trump's threat to bomb unless Tehran reaches a new nuclear deal with Washington. Trump reiterated his threat on Sunday that Iran would be bombed if it does not accept his offer for talks outlined in a letter sent to Iran's leadership in early March, giving Tehran a two-month window to make a decision. Iran handed a warning on Monday about Trump's threats to Switzerland's embassy, which represents U.S. interests and acts as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran,...

Khamenei is buried under the rubble of defeat, yet he still plots new schemes to create chaos and incite war, despite no longer having the power or energy to carry them out. On December 11, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivered his first speech following Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s fall, broadcast as a pre-recorded message. Its significance rested solely on the propaganda spread by his supporters. During the 51-minute ramble, he offered no ideas, messages, or meaningful content. His speech was riddled with delusions – a chaotic and unsettling display. Khamenei’s arguments came across as childish and riddled with lies...

ran has hit back against social media claims that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is close to death or in a coma, by publishing a picture of him meeting a Lebanese official. The photo on X, formerly Twitter, purports to show a meeting between the Iranian leader and Mojtaba Amani, Iran's ambassador to Lebanon at noon Sunday, November 17, in Tehran. Its publication followed tweets claiming Khamenei was in a coma or dead which had erupted on November 16.

Israel has taken the gloves off and sent in the exterminators, and the rats are running for cover. One of the rats is Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has reportedly been moved to a "secure location" within Iran: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been transferred to a secure location somewhere within the country, according to Reuters. The outlet reported that Iran is in “constant contact” with Lebanon’s Hezbollah and other proxy groups to determine next steps.Khamenei’s movement comes hours after he urged Muslims in the region “to stand by the people of Lebanon and the proud Hezbollah...

Iran International English @IranIntl_En: Elon Musk has praised a community note on one of the posts on Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei's X account, as "hall-of-famer". Khamenei's account had called Hezbollah the "victor", but a community note provided context that "the entire Hezbollah leadership including Nasrallah has been eliminated" in an Israeli air strike. Hananya Naftali (Sep 8, 2024). The Supreme Leader of Iran, Khamenei, posted a few days ago "Hezbollah is the victor". Victor? I'm not sure. It took Israel just a few days to take out the entire leadership of Hezbollah. FB

Iran’s “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned his underlings in a meeting on Wednesday that making a “nontactical retreat” would meet the “divine wrath” of Allah as the world awaits a highly touted attack by Tehran on neighboring Israel. Iranian officials have been boasting that they would attack Israel for all of August following the elimination of Hamas “political” chief Ismail Haniyeh on July 31. Haniyeh was killed by a yet-unexplained explosion in his lodgings in Tehran, which he was visiting to attend the inauguration of President Masoud Pezeshkian. Iran is believed to be one of the top funders and...

Israeli intelligence officials believe Iran has settled on attacking Israel in the coming days over the assassination of Hamas’ top leader, according to a new report. The updated assessment on Tehran’s expected retaliation suggests the attack could even come before Thursday, sources told Axios reporter Barak Ravid. That would be before scheduled hostage negotiation talks between Hamas and Israel on Aug. 15, which the terror group announced Sunday it was backing out of. Iran has been assessing its options on attacking Israel for nearly two weeks, after a suspected Israeli bomb killed former Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh while he was...

(Snip) Haniyeh, a father of 13 who presides over one of the world’s wealthiest terrorist groups, is worth more than $4 billion. He has been photographed with his two adult sons, Maaz and Abdel Salam, living the high life in luxury hotels in Qatar and Turkey, according to a recent social media post from the Embassy of Israel in the US. Last week, Haniyeh traveled to Iran to meet with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran is a longtime sponsor of Hamas. Last month, the Four Seasons hotel in Doha said he was not one of its guests after calls...