Free Republic

While the Revolutionary Guards are unconditionally loyal to the Supreme Leader, the Artesh, Iran's regular army, has historically viewed itself as the defender of the Iranian nation. As the drums of war beat louder across the Middle East, a quiet but seismic shift is occurring within the Islamic Republic’s military apparatus. Recent intelligence indicates that in the months leading up to the current escalation, desertion rates among Iran’s regular army-the Artesh-hit a staggering 14% in key western border units. For Western and Israeli war planners, it is easy to view this simply as a symptom of a crumbling regime. However,...

A meeting of senior Iranian officials that was hit by an Israeli airstrike on February 28 may have been linked to the Islamic Republic’s final deliberations over building a nuclear weapon. On the last day of February, as reports emerged that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had been killed in an Israeli bombardment, it was also announced that a meeting of the Defense Council had been struck. Several senior figures were killed in the strike, the Israeli military confirmed on March 16. Among those killed were Ali Shamkhani, a senior adviser to Khamenei and secretary of the Defense Council; Abdolrahim...

Senior Israeli sources told i24NEWS that Ali Larijani had been designated “target number one” after Iran’s Supreme Leader, with intensive intelligence efforts focused on tracking his movements ahead of his assassination. According to the sources, Larijani operated like a “high-value fugitive,” frequently moving between safe houses and never remaining in one location for long. Real-time intelligence updates eventually enabled Israeli decision-makers to act, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and IDF Chief of Staff Zamir reportedly giving immediate approval for the strike once the opportunity emerged. A senior Israeli diplomatic official told i24NEWS that assessments in both...

Smoke was seen rising over Jerusalem on Friday after an Iranian missile barrage, with an impact reported just 350 meters from the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Temple Mount, one of the most sensitive sites in the region. Despite the proximity to the holy compound, Magen David Adom said no injuries had been reported at this stage.

Signs of discontent, low morale, financial strain and desertion are spreading among parts of Iran’s security and military forces, Iran International has learned. Members of the Special Units Command received a notice on Friday saying salary payments for some units had run into problems, according to people familiar with the matter. The delay marked the third time this year that wages for those forces had been paid late. Following the delays, some personnel refused to attend pro-government gatherings, the sources said, causing disruptions in deployment in some major cities. Retirees and some army personnel have also not been paid for...

During Operation Epic Fury (U.S.) / Roaring Lion (Israel), BBC America—anchored by Caitriona Perry—has systematically avoided showing any meaningful images of damage, injuries, or deaths inside Israel from Iranian missile and rocket barrages. Instead, it has aired daily, graphic footage from Lebanon of the aftermath of Israeli strikes, even though Hezbollah’s attacks on Israeli civilians escalated from early March onward. Only today (3.19.26), for literally a split second, did the network flash any Israeli impact at all: amid weeks of massive Iranian barrages raining down on residential areas across the country—including the killing of four Arab Palestinian women yesterday by...

Iranian state-aligned media and senior regime figures have again invoked supernatural and conspiratorial language in describing the conflict with Israel, with recent and past material referring to a “war of occult sciences”, “Zionist sorcery,” jinn, and Jewish talismans. The theme has also surfaced in Iranian claims that Israel used “occult and supernatural spirits” during the 12-day war. The clearest recent example appeared in a Mehr News Agency report published this week, which said the confrontation with Israel extends beyond military, cyber, diplomatic, and cognitive fronts to what it called a “war of occult sciences.” The rhetoric echoes earlier material preserved...

There is something extraordinary about how a young woman, born and raised in the United States, can become a voice for people she has never met in a country she has never seen, thousands of miles away. But for Iran’s Princess Noor Pahlavi, daughter of the exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi and granddaughter of the former shah, Mohammad Reza, that is the situation she finds herself in. As the Islamic Republic regime of Iran faces daily strikes and military pressure from the US and Israel, and with its leadership decimated, many are looking to the day the regime falls. And...

Under President Trump's visionary leadership, America and Israel are acting together in Iran with great determination and unprecedented strength. Operation Rising Line is designed to remove the existential threats posed by the Ayatollah regime, the regime that has waged war against America and Israel and the people of Iran for 47 years. It chants death to America, death to Israel, and it delivers death to its own people. Our goals are three. One, removing the nuclear threat. Second, removing the ballistic missile threat and removing both of these threats before they're buried deep underground and become immune from aerial attack....

Two weeks into Operation Epic Fury, the dominant narrative has settled into a comfortable groove: The United States and Israel stumbled into a war without a plan. Iran is retaliating across the region. Oil prices are surging, and the world is facing another Middle Eastern quagmire. US senators have called it a blunder. Cable news has tallied the crises. Commentators have warned of a long war. The chorus is loud and, in some respects, understandable. War is ugly, and this one has imposed real costs on millions of people across the Middle East, including the city I live in. But...

Pete Hegseth has declared the war in Iran an overwhelming success while blasting the media and America's allies for 'Trump Derangement Syndrome.' The Defense Secretary tore into the press who 'want President Trump to fail,' but said that the American people 'know better.' He lashed out at 'ungrateful allies in Europe', claiming that the entire world 'should be saying one thing to President Trump: Thank You.' Hegseth's meltdown comes as skyrocketing oil prices have triggered fresh inflation warnings from central banks including the Federal Reserve. Gasoline has surged to an average of $3.90 per gallon from $2.90 before the conflict...

Iran said on Thursday its response to Israeli strikes used only a “fraction” of its capabilities and warned of a stronger reaction if its infrastructure is hit again.“Our response… employed FRACTION of our power. The ONLY reason for restraint was respect for requested de-escalation,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.“ZERO restraint if our infrastructures are struck again,” he added.Araghchi said any end to the war must address damage to Iran’s civilian infrastructure.

Well, good morning. Yesterday at Do Air Force Base, President Trump, the chairman, and I stood in solemn silence as heroes came home. Flag draped caskets. We honored them. We grieved with their families and we listened. What I heard through tears, through hugs, through strength, and through unbreakable resolve was the same from family after family. They said, "Finish this. Honor their sacrifice. Do not waver. Do not stop until the job is done." My response along with that of the president was simple. Of course, we will finish this. We will honor their sacrifice. Their sacrifice only steals...

The Israeli killing of Ali Larijani marks another blow to the Islamic Republic’s capacity for coordination, weakening an already fragmented system and raising the risk of miscalculation under pressure. Iran confirmed on Tuesday that Larijani—Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council and one of the regime’s central security coordinators— was killed in a morning strike on Tehran. The strike inevitably recalls the killing of Qassem Soleimani in 2020: another precise removal of a figure who linked diplomacy, intelligence and military power. Soleimani’s death did more than eliminate a commander. It weakened the regime’s ability to calibrate risk. Radical in purpose,...

A leaked phone call between an Israeli intelligence operative and a senior Iranian police commander is offering a rare—and striking—glimpse into growing cracks in Iran’s security apparatus as the U.S.-Israel campaign continues. In the call, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, a Mossad agent warns the commander that he is “on our blacklist” and urges him to stand aside in the event of a popular uprising against the regime. “We know everything about you,” the agent says in Farsi. “If you will not stand with your people, your destiny will be as your leader.” The response is startling. “Brother,...

Enten on Tuesday morning reported the polling shows MAGA overwhelmingly backs Operation Epic Fury. “Look at this! Nearly 9 in 10, 89% approve of the U.S. military action in Iran. That is the MAGA GOP base,” Enten said during a segment on CNN News Central. “Just 9% disapprove of it. This is tremendously popular among the Republican base.”

Iran’s Minister of Intelligence Esmaeil Khatib was killed overnight in a precision strike, a senior Israeli official told Fox News. Khatib was responsible for overseeing Iran’s entire global terror apparatus, including sleeper cells in locations around the world. His targeting was a joint U.S. and Israeli effort on the intelligence front.

Polling throughout the nearly three-week U.S.-Israeli military operation against Iran has consistently shown near-unanimous backing for President Donald Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury among the MAGA base and overwhelming support among Republicans, while a new Rasmussen Reports survey released Monday finds that a majority of likely voters overall say the operation has been succeeding.

An Israeli official, who did not want to be named, told Iran International that Israeli drones targeted Basij and police patrols that were planning to approach the venues of the Syrian [celebration] on [Wednesday night.] [The Basij were turned back.] He called this action "unprecedented" and added: "For the first time, the people of Iran received active support that paralyzed the repression apparatus and practically provided an air umbrella for the population." [The Syrian or the Chaharbansuri] is one of the ancient rituals of Iran [and has] turned from a celebration to a scene of anger and explosion and confrontation...

People out in streets doing fire festival, shouting Javid Shah, regime warned that anyone in streets will get shot, and IRGC Basij have shot people, and IDF has droned a lot of the IRGC Basij, and people celebrate boisterously regardless. Ayatollahs dropping cluster warheads on Israel, destroying and killing, but not all that much. Lots of interceptors intercepting. Live films where it's happening.