Free Republic

Since late February, between 600,000 and one million Iranian households—up to 3.2 million people—have fled their homes, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. Most are fleeing from Tehran and other major urban areas toward the rural north, escaping strikes that began on February 28. The human toll has been severe. Thousands of people have been killed across the Middle East. As of March 22, 3,231 people had been killed in Iran, of which 1,407 were civilians including 214 children, according to U.S.-based rights group HRANA. Thirteen U.S. service members had been killed. Strikes have been reported in more than...

President Donald Trump said his preference is to “take the oil” from Iran — despite whatever gripes his critics would have about it — during an interview with the Financial Times on Sunday. “To be honest with you, my favorite thing is to take the oil in Iran but some stupid people back in the U.S. say: ‘why are you doing that?’ But they’re stupid people,” Trump told the outlet. The outlet noted “such a move would involve seizing Kharg Island through which most of Iran’s oil is exported.” Trump has been calling for the U.S. to take the island...

Donald Trump has encountered online mockery after disclosing he completed a cognitive test three times, amidst worries about his well-being. Concerns regarding the president's cognitive health have been escalating recently. Since beginning his second term in office, Trump has displayed a series of unusual symptoms, including bruising on his hands and apparent mental disorientation. Despite performing his duties as normal, many consider that the situation has reached a pivotal point in recent weeks. * * * Multiple individuals referenced a test he allegedly took as a screening tool to detect dementia in patients. @JoJoFromJerz questioned: "Why does he think bragging...

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican secretary of state, said on Thursday that the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran does not meet the Catholic Church’s criteria for a just war. “No, it does not seem to meet the conditions,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an academic conference at the Vatican Apostolic Library. When asked by EWTN News about the decision of the United States to attack Iran, Parolin referred to recent remarks by Cardinal Robert McElroy, archbishop of Washington, D.C. In an interview with his archdiocesan newspaper, The Catholic Standard, McElroy said the intervention in Iran failed to meet several...

Fox News host Mark Levin argued for the White House to deploy "specialized" U.S. ground troops in Iran to secure Tehran's enriched uranium stockpiles, shortly after President Donald Trump urged members of the public to tune into his show late Saturday. The U.S. has sent thousands of elite soldiers and Marines to the Middle East in recent days, widely seen as a sign the White House could greenlight select ground operatio1s on Iranian soil and escalate the conflict with Tehran. Trump has not yet approved ground operations in Iran, according to U.S. media reports. "Why would we need troops on...

For decades, one of the most reliable pillars of pro-Israel sentiment in the United States was not just Jews but conservative Christians. That support had a theological motor: Israel mattered not just as an ally on a Cold War map, but as a central actor on the map of the End Times. Put simply, Christians needed Jews to return to the homeland of Israel to usher in the second coming of Christ. But now, that theological motor is sputtering… Young evangelicals are less tethered to elaborate prophetic systems… The consequence is subtle but profound: Support for Israel increasingly has to...

The war started with Iran by the United States and Israel has left the European far right divided and doubtful... In the first days of the war, the loudest silence came from Hungary's ruling party... Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has praised Trump as a “peacemaker” for his role in the war in Gaza, neither condemned nor endorsed the attacks on Iran. Orbán, who is campaigning for re-election on a “pro-peace narrative” and accuses the EU of fuelling the war in Ukraine by supporting Kyiv with money and weapons, has since resolved the dissonance by saying in an interview with...

A majority of the American public, polls suggest, have been against the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign in Iran from the day it started. Republicans, however, have largely stuck by their president as the war approaches the end of its fourth week. But that may be changing. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, some of the party faithful expressed concern about why the US started this war, how Donald Trump is going to end it and whether the effort has been worth the costs. "I just wish that there was more transparency on why we're doing what...

A majority of the American public, polls suggest, have been against the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign in Iran from the day it started. Republicans, however, have largely stuck by their president as the war approaches the end of its fourth week. But that may be changing. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, some of the party faithful expressed concern about why the US started this war, how Donald Trump is going to end it and whether the effort has been worth the costs. "I just wish that there was more transparency on why we're doing what...

American families are in crisis… In the U.S., fewer young people are getting married, and they are having fewer children. They struggle to afford a first house… Groceries are expensive; mortgage rates and housing prices are crushing. Whatever the future holds, America’s young parents know it almost certainly will include having to take care of aging Boomers and their own small children at the same time, with a demographic structure more weighted toward the elderly than at any other time in history… The current administration and Congress were elected at least in part on promises to meet these challenges. And,...

August 19, 1953: The Iranian military, with the support and financial assistance of the United States government, overthrows the government of Premier Mohammad Mosaddeq and reinstates the Shah of Iran. Iran remained a solid Cold War ally of the United States until a revolution ended the Shah’s rule in 1979. Mosaddeq came to prominence in Iran in 1951 when he was appointed premier. A fierce nationalist, Mosaddeq immediately began attacks on British oil companies operating in his country, calling for expropriation and nationalization of the oil fields. His actions brought him into conflict with the pro-Western elites of Iran and...

@mtgreenee I am so excited for this event and honored to be speaking!!! Ron Paul is a legend!! Let the Neocon controlled GOP burn to the ground because something greater will rise out of the ashes. Get your tickets!!!

Netanyahu seeks to pass the Budget by March 31 to avoid snap elections, which polls suggest he would likely lose. The war in Iran has shifted focus from Gaza, but polls remain unchanged since Oct 7, showing weak support for Netanyahu. To secure the Budget, Netanyahu's coalition allocated funds to allies, like ultra-Orthodox parties, ensuring their support. Polls consistently show around 40 per cent of voters sticking with Mr Netanyahu’s coalition of nationalist and religious parties, 40 per cent backing opposition parties, and a swing vote so far not moving to Mr Netanyahu, said Professor Gideon Rahat, a political scientist...

Has there been a coup in Iran? If there has been, it has been perpetrated by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which is striking a defiant tone against the United States and Israel. That's a real problem."Nobody knows who to talk to," President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the White House, describing what he portrayed as both chaos and opportunity inside Iran’s leadership. "But we're actually talking to the right people, and they want to make a deal so badly." His remarks come as the U.S. claims it is engaged in talks with a "top" Iranian figure, even as...

Democrat Emily Gregory on Tuesday won a special election for the Florida state House district that includes President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort, flipping the seat from Republican control, The Associated Press projects.

President Trump said on Tuesday that the U.S. war in Iran has been won, but that he coudn’t say exactly when it would end. “I think we’re going to end it. I can’t tell you for sure. You know, I don’t like to say this, this war has been won. The only one that likes to keep it going is the fake news,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office following the swearing in of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. Trump has repeatedly given contrasting signals about the war, at one moment suggesting talks are taking place that could lead...

Are congressional Republicans absolutely determined to forfeit this November’s midterm elections? It sure looks that way. The GOP would hardly be acting any differently if it were secretly run by its enemies. The election-security provisions of the SAVE Act enjoy overwhelming popular support. According to CBS/YouGov polling, requiring photo ID to vote is literally an 80-20 issue, commanding the support of four out of five voters. Yet the Republican Senate, with a 53-47 majority, is struggling to pass the law. Yes, the filibuster gives Chuck Schumer a powerful weapon to use against the GOP, but there are ways around that...

Conservative commentator Bill O’Reilly said Monday that it was becoming increasingly clear that the Trump administration will not be able to change the Iranian regime as a result of its war. “It is becoming apparent to the Trump administration that they are not going to be able to change the regime, unless you throw 10,000 ground troops into Iran, which is never going to happen,” O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on “On Balance.” “So, the thinking is, we’ll make a deal, the deal will encompass inspectors going in to see that they aren’t enriching uranium, no ballistic missiles and bunch...

Judging by Donald Trump’s outbursts of late, he can’t seem to decide whether reopening the Strait of Hormuz is easy or hard. He also can’t seem to decide whether he needs international allies to help with this urgent task or not. Iran’s blockade on oil shipments exiting the strait—done in response to Trump’s attack—is causing worsening global consequences daily. So it would be useful for Trump to settle these arguments in his own mind already. But Trump’s incoherence on the Strait of Hormuz actually reveals something else, as well: a massive political weakness. .....

Gold is supposed to be one of the first assets investors run to when the world gets dangerous. War in the Middle East, oil supply disruptions, rising inflation fears, and a more hawkish interest rate outlook should, in theory, create a near-perfect backdrop for the precious metal. Instead, gold has done the opposite. It has sold off hard, leaving many investors wondering whether one of the market’s oldest safe-haven trades is starting to fail when it is needed most. That disconnect matters. Gold is not just another commodity. For many investors, central banks, and households around the world, it represents...