Free Republic

US President Donald Trump has confirmed Pakistan's report that the US and Iran have reached a deal. "The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete," he writes on Truth Social. "I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade," he says. "Ships of the World, start your engines. Let the oil flow!" Pakistan PM's statement in fullpublished Here is the full statement from Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who has just announced that a peace deal between US and Iran...

The U.S. and Iran, together with Pakistani and Qatari mediators, are expected to hold a virtual meeting on Sunday and electronically sign a memorandum of understanding that will extend the ceasefire by 60 days, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and launch negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. (snip) What they're saying: "We are closer to a peace deal than ever before. With finalization likely expected in the next 24 hours, Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of the peace deal immediately after, followed by technical level talks next week," Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote on X on Saturday. Shortly...

The United Arab Emirates has agreed to unlock billions of dollars for Iran, four sources ​said, in a tactical shift after weeks of Iranian attacks on the wealthy Gulf Arab state during the U.S.-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic. (snip) Two regional sources told Reuters the UAE had agreed to release a total of $10 billion, more than $3 billion of which had already been delivered. Two other sources with knowledge of the arrangement put the total funds involved at $20 billion, adding that the move had been agreed in return for a ​halt to Iranian attacks on the UAE....

The U.S. and Iran could reportedly sign a peace deal as soon as Sunday, after Iranian state media said the draft deal included a commitment from the U.S. to lift oil sanctions and a pledge from Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within 30 days. The 14-point document dictates that final negotiations will not begin until the release of half of Iran’s frozen funds, the suspension of Iran’s oil sanctions and the lifting of the naval blockade, the Mehr News Agency reported. All American forces would need to withdraw from Iran, and the U.S. and its allies would need...

US President Donald Trump on Friday claimed that details of the deal leaked by Iran are "fake news." In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, "The terms that Iran leaked out to the Fake News have NOTHING to do with the terms that were agreed to, in writing." "What they said, including their weak and pathetic statement on having a deal, bears no relation to the truth. Very dishonorable people to deal with. With them, there is no such thing as dealing in good faith. AMAZING!" "Also, their totally rebuffed Drone attack last night against Indian Ships...

President Trump announced that he canceled planned strikes against Iran on Thursday and claimed Iran's leadership "approved" a draft agreement that would extend the ceasefire, reopen the Strait of Hormuz and launch 60 days of negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. (snip)The sources said the gaps were narrowed on three key issues: The mechanism for releasing Iran's frozen assets — the most important issue for the Iranians.Arrangements for reopening the Strait of Hormuz during the 60-day ceasefire period.How negotiations over Iran's nuclear program would be conducted during the 60-day ceasefire period.

KAN Israel News, citing an Iranian-linked news network, reports that $3 billion was transferred from Abu Dhabi to Tehran aboard a private Boeing 737. According to the report, Iran agreed to halt direct attacks on Israel after receiving a U.S. message, delivered through Qatar, in from further strikes in Lebanon. The funds were reportedly flown to Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport aboard UAE Royal Jet aircraft A6-RJF, which was tracked traveling from Abu Dhabi to Iran. At this stage, the flight itself was genuine (it happened during Irans airspace closure) and the presence of a UAE delegation in Tehran has been reported...

US Vice President JD Vance says the United States and Israel “have a lot of shared interests, but we also have some situations where our interests diverge,” as Fox News host Jesse Waters begins an interview by asking him how “concerned are you about Israel spying on the United States and freelancing in Lebanon?” “I think where the president has been very clear here is that while Israel obviously has some objectives that it has, the United States’ main objective in Iran is to ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon,” Vance says, without actually addressing the questions...

One hundred days after they went to war together to thwart Iran’s rogue nuclear weapons program, radically degrade its ballistic missile industry, end its support for the Hezbollah and Hamas terror armies, and create the conditions for the fall of the regime, the US-Israel alliance against the Islamic Republic on Sunday reached its nadir. With its north battered relentlessly by Hezbollah in recent weeks, Israel resorted to a largely symbolic strike on the terror group’s Dahiyeh stronghold in Beirut, reportedly without telling the disapproving Trump administration ahead of time that it was doing so. And, as it had warned it...

Donald Trump said he would plead with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iranian strikes on Israel - which came in response to Israeli strikes on Beirut on Sunday. ‘I am going to call Bibi right now and tell him not to retaliate,’ Trump was quoted as saying by Axios journalist Barak Ravid in a phone interview, using the Israeli leader’s nickname. ‘Each of them had their fun. Israel had its strike and Iran had its strike. We don’t need another one,’ Mr Trump said. Trump described the attack - the first Iranian strikes on Israeli soil...

Vladimir Putin has rejected an offer from Volodymyr Zelenskyy to hold a face-to-face meeting, insisting instead that Russia will achieve its war goals in Ukraine, including seizing all of the eastern Donbas region. Speaking at the St Petersburg economic forum, the Russian president described the open letter from his Ukrainian counterpart containing the offer as rude. He refused to use Zelenskyy’s name, referring to him only as its author. Asked if they could meet to discuss an end to the conflict, Putin replied: “So far I see no point.” Zelenskyy’s letter, which was published on Thursday, proposed a meeting in...

Ukraine launched one of its largest drone offensives of the war overnight into June 6, sending more than 400 unmanned aircraft deep into Russian territory and striking targets that included a naval weapons depot near Saint Petersburg, an oil refinery in Siberia, a port in Russian-occupied Mariupol, and munitions warehouses in the Leningrad region. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed its air defenses shot down 376 of the incoming drones, a figure that, if accurate, still left dozens reaching their intended targets across a geographic spread stretching from the Baltic coast to western Siberia. The attacks came on the final day of...

President Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner traveled to the national lab in Oak Ridge, Tennessee on Thursday for consultations with a team of technical experts that could play a role in nuclear negotiations with Iran, Axios has learned. Why it matters: The White House is trying to reach a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran to end the war and begin in-depth nuclear negotiations, and wants to have experts at the ready should those talks be launched. (snip)The intrigue: Axios was alerted on Thursday to the fact that Witkoff had made an unannounced trip to eastern Tennessee. Two...

The Iranian regime has agreed not to have nuclear weapons, President Donald Trump told the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast — but he added that Tehran could still “change their mind.” “I did have to say we have to do something about Iran, because regardless of how well we’re doing [economically] we can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” he said in the interview, which was published Wednesday. “They’ve already agreed they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.” When asked to confirm that the Iranian regime had agreed to that term, Trump said: “Oh yeah, they’ve agreed...

The US military has said it launched "self-defence" strikes on Iran overnight, and shot down ballistic missiles and drones fired at ships and Gulf countries. The strikes on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz, were "in response to attempted attacks by Iran across the Middle East", US Central Command (Centcom) said. Centcom said Iran had fired two missiles at Kuwait and three at Bahrain, all of which broke apart or were intercepted. Iran said it had attacked US bases and helicopters in a "regional country" using missiles and drones in retaliation. One person was killed in Kuwait and a...

Republican Congressman Tom Kean Jr has not been seen in Washington or his New Jersey hometown for months, but he is expected to easily win his party's backing for re-election on Tuesday, after a recent endorsement from President Donald Trump. "Tom Kean has my Complete and Total Endorsement for Re-Election," Trump wrote on social media, adding, "HE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!" Kean is running unopposed so has not needed to campaign with voters. But US media report he also has not been in Congress, and has missed more than 100 votes. He was last seen on 5 March. His...

President Trump lashed out at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel's escalation in Lebanon in an expletive-laden call on Monday, two U.S. officials and a third source briefed on the call told Axios. Why it matters: Earlier on Monday, Iran threatened to abandon the negotiations with the U.S. over Israel's actions in Lebanon. On the call, Trump called Netanyahu "crazy" and accused him of ingratitude, according to two of the sources. He also put the brakes on Israel's plan to strike Beirut. Behind the scenes: One U.S. official said Trump told Netanyahu that following through on his threats to...

The world is getting more uptight about lending money to President Donald Trump’s government — causing interest rates to climb in ways that are worsening affordability pressures, hampering economic growth and creating a new risk for Republicans in November’s midterm elections. The energy price spike triggered by the Iran war has seeped into the price of bonds that help fund the U.S. government. Interest rates on a 10-year U.S. Treasury note are topping 4.44%, up from 3.95% before the war started at the end of February. Average mortgage rates have climbed to their highest levels in nine months, while auto...

President Trump likes his military and diplomatic victories quick, clean and decisive. (snip) But now, Mr. Trump has hit the stalemate phase of his presidency. The war with Iran is clearly at that stage. When he declared a cease-fire on April 7, Mr. Trump said on social media that the end of combat operations would be conditional on “the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz.” It wasn’t. Even if commerce now resumes across the strait under a memorandum of understanding still under negotiation, it will still leave the future of Iran’s nuclear and missile programs exactly...

The Trump administration has quietly instructed federal prosecutors in Miami to avoid pursuing criminal investigations into Venezuela’s acting President Delcy Rodríguez, a longtime target of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials, in the latest sign of warming relations between the White House and the oil-rich nation. It’s unclear whether prosecutors had implicated Rodríguez in any crimes or whether investigators were moving toward an indictment. A Justice Department spokesperson said in an email “there was never an investigation into her to shut down.” But DEA records obtained by The Associated Press earlier this...