Free Republic

Iran has launched missiles at Israel after it ominously warned Donald Trump that it has 'special plans' for him and the US's allies in the Gulf, following the American president's threat to attack the nation's power plants. A source told the state-run Fars News Agency: 'Tonight, special events are planned for Tel Aviv and some regional allies of the US and Israel that will completely remove the hope of negotiations from the minds of the aggressors.' Iran appears to have made good on the threat, firing missiles at Eilat area in southern Israel, as well as the cities of Dimona...

President Donald Trump floated joint control of the Strait of Hormuz and suggested he didn't know who was currently leading Iran when responding to a reporter on Monday morning. Trump spoke to journalists on the tarmac of Palm Beach International Airport as he departed Florida after spending the weekend at Mar-a-Lago and was asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins who was in control of the Strait of Hormuz. The President answered that the Strait would be open 'real soon' if a deal he's teased with Iran works. 'It'll be jointly controlled,' he said of the waterway. When asked who would be...

President Donald Trump's approval rating has sunk to the lowest ever, with voters expressing displeasure with the war with Iran and the cost of living. A new Daily Mail/JL Partners poll found that Trump's approval rating has slipped to 42 percent.That's down from the 44 percent approval he received on March 3, just days into the Iran conflict. Trump held a 48 percent approval rating as recently as late January. Trump's performance in the Middle East is partially driving the disappointment. Twenty-eight percent of respondents cited the war as the top reason they disapprove of the job the President is...

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth appeared to confirm Thursday that the Trump administration is contemplating asking Congress to approve $200 billion in supplemental defense funding amid the war in Iran.On Wednesday, the Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had asked the White House to make the $200 billion request to lawmakers in order to replenish America’s munitions stockpile, though it was not clear when or whether the Trump administration would decide to do so. “As far as the $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously,” Hegseth told reporters. “It takes money to kill bad guys. So we’re going...

Donald Trump has deployed thousands of US Marines to the Strait of Hormuz amid mounting fears that America is set to put troops on the ground as the world's oil supply is strangled. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth approved a request by US Central Command for the deployment of a Marine expeditionary unit, typically including several warships and 5,000 troops, three officials told the Wall Street Journal.The Japan-based USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault ship, and its attached Marines are now headed for the Middle East, where they join other Marines already in the fight, the officials said. The war spiraled...

The United States has temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil, a boost to the Kremlin as Washington tries to contain energy prices sent soaring by the American-Israeli assault on Iran. President Vladimir Putin’s team welcomed the move to ease penalties that were imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and pushed Friday for the U.S. to go further. The decision caused dismay in Europe, where officials feared it would give a timely boost to the Moscow war machine on their doorstep as attention shifts to the Middle East. The announcement failed to immediately calm oil prices, which have spiraled since Tehran...

New satellite imagery and flight-tracking data show a significant buildup of U.S. military aircraft at a key air base in central Jordan, as tensions rise over Iran's nuclear program, The New York Times reported Friday. Images captured Friday reveal more than 60 U.S. attack aircraft parked at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base — roughly three times the number typically stationed there.Flight data also indicate that at least 68 cargo planes have landed at the base since Sunday, suggesting a surge of personnel, equipment, and logistical support. More fighter jets may be positioned under protective shelters. The images show advanced aircraft, including...

The Pentagon has reportedly ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to prepare to deploy to the Middle East in support of potential military action against Iran. President Trump has not yet given the carrier group the greenlight to deploy, but an order could be issued “in a matter of hours,” the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday night, citing US officials. The deployment would likely come from the US East Coast, and one carrier is being prepped to head out to sea in two weeks, an official told the publication. The USS George H.W. Bush is currently conducting training exercises...

Attorney General Pam Bondi ripped House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) as a “washed-up, loser lawyer” before clashing with lawmakers of both parties during a Wednesday hearing.President Trump’s top law enforcement official testified before the panel following the release of millions of files related to the prosecution of deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein — with several victims in attendance. Judiciary Democrats accused Bondi of ignoring those victims and having her Department of Justice harmfully release documents identifying some of them — while redacting members of Epstein’s rich and powerful circle. In heated exchanges with Raskin, the AG accused Democrats...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz ramped up his divisive attacks on the Trump administration even after the president deployed “border czar” Tom Homan to de-escalate the unrest following the shooting of Alex Pretti. “They started this fire and we are not going to give them credit for putting it out,” Walz told CNN’s Anderson Cooper in his first TV interview since the 37-year-old nurse was shot dead during a scuffle with Border Patrol agents on Saturday. The embattled governor said he had met with Homan and there was a “tone shift” and “progress,” however, he then needled the border czar, implying...

Don Lemon is doubling down after being caught red-handed conspiring with anti-ICE radicals who raided a Sunday church service in St. Paul, casting blame on the parishioners whom he labeled “entitled” and accusing them of “white supremacy.”“I think people who are in religious groups like that — it’s not the type of Christianity that I practice — but I think they’re entitled, and that entitlement comes from white supremacy,” Lemon said of Minnesota’s Cities Church in a jaw-dropping interview with lefty “I’ve Had It” podcaster Jennifer Welch. “They think this country was built for them, that it’s a Christian country.”...

President Trump has warned America’s European allies “I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace” after he missed out on last year’s Nobel Prize amid a new round of threats to annex Greenland.Trump’s message, initially sent to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, was forwarded to multiple European ambassadors in DC, according to PBS. “Dear Jonas,” the message reads. “Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now...

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has claimed in his forthcoming memoir that 2024 Democratic nominee Kamala Harris’ campaign asked him if he had ever worked as a “double agent for Israel” while vetting him as a potential running mate.Shapiro, who is Jewish, wrote in “Where We Keep the Light” that he told his interrogator, former Biden White House counsel Dana Remus, that he found the question offensive and was told, “Well, we have to ask.” According to the New York Times, which obtained an advance copy of Shapiro’s book, Remus then asked if the governor had ever “communicated with an...