Free Republic

The mullahcracy had the swell idea of avoiding accountability for attacks on Israel. They would surround Israel with well-armed proxies to do their dirty work. Hezb’allah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, Houthis in the Red Sea, militias in Iraq and Syria, and allied forces in the West Bank. They would assert hegemony over the Middle East and choke off petro products to the world by blockading the Strait of Hormuz. As it stands today, military action by the U.S. and Israel and economic warfare by the Treasury have nearly extinguished these fires. Iran is broke; they alone are being blockaded...

The program, codenamed C430L, began in 2023 and was arranged by Russia's state arms exporter, Rosoboronexport, in coordination with the US-sanctioned NPO Mashinostroyenia.

The situation for the Regime continues to degrade in Iran.

The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday after it said Tehran tried to attack commercial ships and American forces in the Middle East, as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war that has lasted more than six months. The U.S. strikes, and others on Sunday, abruptly ended a month without military action and threatens to fully reprise a conflict that has spiked global oil prices and posed political problems for Republicans in November’s midterm congressional elections. The renewed fighting comes after President Donald Trump had appeared to pivot toward trying to bend Iran to his will through...

U.S. forces unleashed fresh strikes on Iran late Tuesday, hammering targets in the port cities of Bandar Abbas and Sirik and on Qeshm Island. Explosions rocked the three strategic locations before U.S. Central Command confirmed the operation. “Today at 12 p.m. ET, U.S. forces began striking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) targets in Iran. The strikes follow recent attempted attacks by the IRGC against commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and against American service members deployed to the region.” Iran has attacked eight commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz since the blockade on ships traveling to or om...

US forces have reportedly begun launching military strikes in Iran this evening (Tuesday). According to the initial reports, the attacks were conducted on Qeshm Island and in Chabahar, Iran; explosions were heard in both areas. A senior US official said: “We struck sites in the Bandar Abbas area." All of the targets attacked are in the Strait of Hormuz area. The US Central Command issued a statement saying, "Today at 12:00 PM Eastern Time, US forces began attacking Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets in Iran. The attacks come after recent attempted attacks by the Revolutionary Guard Corps against commercial ships...

The number of U.S. troops killed or wounded in the war with Iran has risen to 774 after the Pentagon added dozens of injured service members to its casualty count in recent days. The number listed as wounded climbed from 697 on Wednesday to 756 on Thursday, an increase of 59, according to the War Department's Defense Casualty Analysis System on Friday. The number of American military deaths remained at 18. The Pentagon did not immediately explain the sharp increase, including when or where the newly recorded injuries occurred. The War Department has divided the casualties into two categories following...

For years, the United Arab Emirates has been a lifeline for Iran’s sanctions-battered economy, despite political tensions between the two countries. But that relationship was imperiled on Tuesday, when the Emirates announced a total embargo on trade and transactions with the Islamic republic. If the threat holds, Iran would lose not just a major market for its goods but a portal to the world economy, analysts say. The embargo highlights both the depth of the economic relationships that Iran has cultivated across the Gulf region and the strain they are now under. The war that the United States and Israel...

President Donald Trump proclaimed on Tuesday that talks with Iran were not happening, a direct contradiction to his own son-in-law and top negotiator Jared Kushner, who said a day earlier that the negotiations were ongoing. “There are no talks or conversations going on, or scheduled, with the Islamic Republic of Iran,” the president posted to Truth Social on Tuesday. “The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” But Trump’s post may have been news to Kushner,...

IRGC is digging trenches at border of Iran, says they're going on "offensive" and are "ready". Want to attack Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, take US servicemen hostages. Gave deadline of a few weeks for America to back off from Hormuz blockade.

Iran announced on Aug. 16 that it will offer a bounty of $30,000 to any individual who “kills or captures a U.S. soldier and hands them over to authorities,” according to Iranian state media. Iranian Army Commander-in-Chief Major General Amir Hatami revealed the bounty on Sunday at a ceremony that was allegedly held to honor journalists. Hatami suggested he’d double the reward if an Iranian woman killed or captured a U.S. soldier. The government suggested that it would even purchase the weapon used in the murder and display it in a museum. In a separate announcement on Sunday, Iran’s armed...

In a major setback to efforts to ease tensions in West Asia and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iran on Monday has ruled out any future negotiations with the Donald Trump’s administration, saying it will wait until the US President’s term ends on January 20, 2029, according to Iranian outlets and a post by an adviser to Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf.

President Trump on Monday blasted Iran’s leadership as “unbelievably duplicitous,” accusing Tehran of privately pursuing peace talks with the US while publicly denying any negotiations were taking place days after he called off a massive military campaign planned for the weekend.In a Truth Social post, Trump claimed Iranian officials had sought a meeting with the US before turning around and insisting they were only in talks with Oman over plans for the Strait of Hormuz. “They ask for a meeting, some would say ‘beg,’ talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that...

Last week, I was invited to join a program hosted by an independent Iranian media platform called Azad, which specializes in facilitating debates between policy experts in Iran and further abroad. My debate was with Majid Shakeri, who gained prominence as a foreign policy advisor to Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf (the current speaker of the country’s parliament) during Ghalibaf’s most recent presidential campaign. Shakeri was also part of the negotiating team that went to Islamabad earlier this year to hammer out the (now-moribund) MOU with the United States. These days, when you listen to Shakeri’s interviews, you will hear him insist...

US President Donald Trump criticized Iran’s leadership for being “unbelievably duplicitous” and accused them of being dishonest regarding the status of US-Iran negotiations in a post on Truth Social on Monday. “They ask for a meeting… talks begin, with more scheduled in the immediate future, and they say, openly and proudly, that they’re not having any discussions, that nothing is being talked about,” Trump lamented. He added that “nothing gets through to Iran, unless we want it to, and nothing will get through, unless a deal, or total surrender, is accomplished.” Trump also disputed Iranian claims of controlling the Strait...

The streets of Iran are near a breaking point over public executions, economic collapse and a war that’s been raging on for more than five months, anti-regime figures in Tehran told The Post. “A revolution can happen any day now — people want revenge,” a protest leader said, referring to the regime’s brutal January crackdown that President Trump said killed 52,000 people. An independent journalist active in the Iranian underground said that preparations are already being made for the next uprising, and that activists from all walks of life are determined to make a final, decisive blow against the regime....

Iran has denied Donald Trump's claim that new talks on ending the conflict would begin on Monday, after the US president called off what he said would have been "massive" strikes on the country.Speaking on board Air Force One on Sunday, he said Iran "knew the extent of the attack because they saw it forming", adding: "We're talking to them in the form of a negotiation. It begins tomorrow afternoon."In an earlier post on Truth Social, Trump said he had been asked by Iran and US allies in the Middle East to "hold off" as the "perimeters" of a deal...

The United States and Israel are planning what would be one of the harshest bombing campaigns to date against energy infrastructure targets in Iran, multiple sources told CBS News, with strikes possible throughout the weekend. There was some discussion about trying to conclude by the time financial markets open Monday because of concern about how the bombings will affect the U.S. and global economy, but an end point wasn't locked in. The Israelis have been notified and are coordinating with the United States, according to multiple U.S. sources. The president has yet to give the final go orders for the...

President Trump halted new US strikes on Iran as he weighs whether Tehran is ready to cut a deal — while a wider regional war appears to be spreading into another critical shipping corridor. After 13 consecutive days of attacks, Trump instructed the US military to pause any additional strikes against Iran Friday, Axios reported Saturday, which cited two people familiar with the decision. But the president has made clear that the temporary halt does not mean Washington is backing down. In a brief phone interview with France’s LCI news, Trump said he was still prepared to restart a major...

Vice President JD Vance and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine both raised concerns about escalating the war in Iran as President Donald Trump weighed the possibility during a White House meeting on Friday, a source familiar with the matter and a US official told CNN. On Friday night, the US appeared to pause its bombing campaign on Iran after nearly two weeks of consecutive nights of strikes. Operations are “on a hold,” a Department of Defense source told CNN on Saturday. On Friday, Caine specifically raised concerns about the US munitions stockpile and other potential...