Free Republic

Recent primary elections make it undeniable: President Trump dominates the Republican Party.The president has gone 118-0 in winning endorsements over various recent contests, including challenging high-profile incumbents such as Sens. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and Bill Cassidy (R-La.). The stunning sweep has ushered out of office politicians who do not support Trump, and welcomed in those who do. As House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told a gaggle of reporters recently, Trump’s endorsement “is the most powerful in the history of politics.“The last person to achieve that unquestioned Republican leadership was President Ronald Reagan.What do the two men have in common? First,...

An Iranian missile strike injured several Americans at a Kuwaiti air base, according to a report Saturday, the latest escalation that could further complicate efforts to end the U.S.-Iran war. Falling debris from an intercepted Iranian ballistic missile struck Ali Al Salem Air Base, causing minor injuries to several Americans and seriously damaging two MQ-9 Reaper strike drones, Bloomberg reported.

When is a ceasefire not a ceasefire? When the person declaring it is Donald Trump. Opinions differ about the wisdom of the President’s activities with respect to Iran. Some observers tell us he is playing four-dimensional chess. Some say it more like checkers with no kings.What, after all, is he up to? The commentariat proffers several conflicting narratives. The one common thread is the certainty with which these opinions are uttered. Trump is an idiot. Trump is a genius. For those who say that he has thrown in the towel – that Iran has “won” – I’d offer two observations.First,...

U.S. and Iranian negotiators have reached an agreement on a 60-day memorandum of understanding extending the current ceasefire and launching negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, but the deal still needs President Donald Trump's final approval, U.S. sources confirmed to Fox News.

President Donald Trump threatened Wednesday to "blow up" Oman if the longtime U.S. ally sided with Iran in seeking joint control over the Strait of Hormuz, according to reporting from the New York Post, Reuters and other outlets covering a White House Cabinet meeting. "If Oman doesn’t behave, we’re gonna have to blow them up," Trump said during the meeting, according to the New York Post.Trump said the Strait of Hormuz must remain an international waterway and rejected any arrangement that would place control or toll authority in the hands of Iran, Oman, or any other country, Reuters reported. The...

The US military carried out new strikes in Iran Wednesday, targeting a military site that threatened American troops and commercial shipping traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. “Today, US Central Command Forces shot down four Iranian one-way attack drones that posed a threat around the Strait of Hormuz,” a US official said in a statement. “US forces also struck an Iranian ground control station in Bandar Abbas that was about to launch a fifth drone,” the official added. Despite the skirmish, the fragile cease-fire that has been in place since April 8 is still considered to be holding.“These actions were...

The times, they are a-changin', as then-folk music troubadour Bob Dylan once sang about the radical era America found herself swimming/wading through in the Sixties. You could say the same thing about whatever they end up calling this era, and the second Trump administration at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Readers may have seen some of our pieces - so far on Wednesday - covering the Cabinet meeting open to the media. Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent, per a Playbook report on the team meet-up, explained that "The continued resilience of the economy speaks for itself, even during the Iran — the conflict."...

The Iranian Tasnim News Agency reported on Wednesday that a senior National Security Council official in the country claimed the first round of peace talks with the United States did not address the country’s enriched uranium stockpile. The official, National Security Council Deputy Secretary Ali Baqeri, claimed instead that the talks were focusing on reopening commercial transit in the Strait of Hormuz. The Iranian terror state has effectively made normal commercial traffic in the Strait of Hormuz impossible since March, threatening to attack random ships to disrupt the global economy. Baqeri’s claim that enriched uranium is not part of the...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will meet with his Cabinet on Wednesday at a precarious moment for talks aimed at ending the war with Iran, just days after insisting that his administration and Tehran had “largely negotiated” a settlement but with the negotiations still in a state of flux. As he prepares to huddle with his top aides, Trump is projecting confidence that he's closing in on a deal that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and provide him a credible argument that Iran’s nuclear capability has been diminished enough to declare victory, winding down a conflict that's been...

Brent crude dropped below US$97 a barrel after both sides said talks had made progress.Oil prices fell nearly 7 per cent on Monday (May 25) as optimism grew that the United States and Iran were moving closer to a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, even though Washington and Tehran played down hopes for an imminent breakthrough. Brent crude futures LCOc1 were down US$7.24, or almost 7 per cent, at US$96.30 a barrel at 2:29pm ET (Tuesday, 2:29am, Singapore time) and US West Texas Intermediate CLc1 futures were down US$6.30, or 6.5 per cent, at US$90.88. Trading...

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...

The regime in Iran is lying to you and your negotiators (period, stop!). Do not believe a word they say. I know you want to get out of this mess. All Americans want this unnecessary war to end. Keep in mind, as you have been told many times, Iran is still the leading state sponsor of terrorism (all anyone needs to say is Hezbollah, Hamas & Houthis, never mind IRGC-QF). None of these organizations are going away with this deal. How about getting them to first publicly apologize for killing American Soldiers and U.S. Marines many times over (especially on...

WASHINGTON — The White House vowed “no dust, no dollars” for Iran on Sunday — asserting that unless the Islamic Republic gives up its enriched uranium, it will get no sanctions relief — as President Trump tapped the brakes on forecasting a peace deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump revealed Saturday that the US and Iran were close on a memorandum of understanding that would get oil flowing again while allowing 30 days for nuclear negotiations. The plan unleashed panic among some Republicans and Israel backers — prompting Trump officials to clarify that no deal was imminent,...

Any discussion of leadership change in Tehran appears to be out.CAIRO (AP) — A deal appears to be emerging between the United States and Iran to end the war and open the Strait of Hormuz, and U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend said it had been “largely negotiated.”It is not clear when or how the deal might be finalized and when its various parts will take effect. Trump spoke after calls with allies in the Middle East, including a separate call with Israel. Details come from two regional officials and a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity...

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...

Political commentator Scott Jennings gave the Iran debate a much-needed dose of plain English after he received a briefing from a senior Trump administration official. Jennings' central point was simple: President Donald Trump used force when force became necessary, then paused further strikes when diplomacy had a chance to save lives. Trump's critics have spent years calling him reckless, impulsive, and incapable of restraint. Now he's showing patience, and many of those same voices still can't bring themselves to admit what sits in front of them. Trump has said talks with Iran remain active, but he has also warned his...

Washington’s war hawks are molting down over President Trump’s outreach to Iran. Senator Ted Cruz says that he is “concerned.” Senator Roger Wicker fears a “disaster.” Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo deemed a preliminary agreement with Iran “not remotely America First.” Trump and his advisors are having none of it. Responding to Pompeo, White House communications director Steve Cheung observed that “he should shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals.” Trump, who angered Senate Republicans earlier this week by proposing a $1.8 billion slush fund for January 6 victims and by endorsing Ken Paxton...

Although full details of Trump’s Iran deal, which is still being negotiated, have not been provided by the administration, the president has come under fire for supposedly caving to the mullahs and failing to mete out harsh enough consequences for the terroristic regime.Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earned the president’s wrath for saying the deal resembles former President Barack Obama’s ridiculous 2015 agreement — where we literally dumped pallets of cash on a runway despite not making meaningful progress against their nuclear ambitions — while other hard-line Republicans like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, North...

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump If I make a deal with Iran, it will be a good and proper one, not like the one made by Obama, which gave Iran massive amounts of CASH, and a clear and open path to a Nuclear Weapon. Our deal is the exact opposite, but nobody has seen it, or knows what it is. It isn’t even fully negotiated yet. So don’t listen to the losers, who are critical about something they know nothing about. Unlike those before me who should have solved this problem many years ago, I don’t make bad deals! President DJT...

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) is pushing back on fellow Republicans who have criticized an emerging deal being negotiated by the Trump administration to end the war with Iran. Paul, who has criticized the war while joining with Democrats to support War Powers Resolution votes to curb President Trump’s actions, said those criticizing Trump should give him room to operate. “War virtually always ends with negotiations,” Paul wrote in a post on X. “Critics of President Trump’s peace negotiations should give President Trump the space to find an American First solution.” Trump on Saturday said the U.S. was getting close to...