Free Republic

If the US or Israel attack Iran again, Tehran could produce weapons-grade uranium, says the spokesman for Iran’s parliamentary National Security and Foreign Policy Commission. “One of Iran’s options in the event of another attack could be 90 percent enrichment,” writes Ebrahim Rezaei in a Persian-language post on X. “We will review it in the parliament.” Iran has enriched uranium to 60%, and could quickly make the leap to 90%.

Peace talks between the United States and Iran have crashed and burned like an Iranian F-14 that just ran across the gunsights of an American F-22. The Iranian regime seems to be stuck on the same line in the sand that President Trump won't back down on, and that's their nuclear program, despite the president's earlier optimistic tone on that condition. On Monday, there surfaced some reports that experts familiar with Iran are saying that there may be indications of a bug-out about to get underway. The apparent collapse of high-stakes U.S.-Iran negotiations has intensified fears that senior figures inside...

President Trump and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in separate interviews on Sunday that the war against Iran was not over, seeming to undermine messaging from the Trump administration last week that the conflict had run its course. The interviews further compounded confusion about a military campaign marked by shifting goals and messaging since the American-Israeli attacks on Iran began in late February. Mr. Trump, in an interview released by the syndicated news show “Full Measure,” said Iran had been defeated militarily. Yet when asked if it was accurate to say that combat operations were “over and done,” he...

A spokesman for Iran’s terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) condemned the United States on Friday for conducting what U.S. Central Command referred to as “self-defense strikes” to protect American assets in the region, claiming that it had responded and caused “significant damage.” Central Command (CENTCOM), the wing of the American armed forces responsible for operations in the Middle East, revealed on Thursday that it had “intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes,” destroying the Iranian assets used in the attack. CENTCOM described a flurry of “missiles, drones, and small boats approaching American naval assets and attacking, but...

The national retail average for a regular gallon of gas was $4.457 on Monday. That's a 1-cent increase from Sunday, according to the American Automobile Association, and 35 cents more than last Monday. At this time last year, a gallon of gas was $1.29 cheaper. The surging prices seemed to stabilize or even decrease for about two weeks, following a temporary ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran that has been indefinitely extended. However, the Strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping route where roughly a fifth of the world's oil passes, has effectively remained closed or extremely limited to passage...

There's been a lot of bluffing by Iran over the last few weeks during the tenuous "ceasefire," and it looks like the United States has finally called it. As RedState reported, the U.S. Navy successfully escorted multiple American-flagged vessels through the Strait of Hormuz on Monday. Now, CENTCOM is confirming that hostilities have already resumed. According to Kassy Akiva, who attended a press briefing with Admiral Brad Cooper, six Iranian boats were destroyed. What's left of the regime also tried to launch missiles at U.S. Naval ships, but they were successfully intercepted. He says 6 Iranian small boats were eliminated...

Iran’s Fars news agency, citing local sources, reports two missiles hit a US navy vessel near Jask island after it ignored warnings from the Revolutionary Guard to halt. The reported attack comes after President Trump said the US will begin “Project Freedom” on Monday to “guide” stranded ships out of the Strait of Hormuz. US Central Command said it would support the effort with 15,000 military personnel, more than 100 land and sea-based aircraft, along with warships and drones.

The war between the US and Iran is “likely” to restart, a senior Iranian official predicted on the heels of comments by President Trump that the US might be “better off” without an agreement. A “renewed conflict between Iran and the United States is likely,” said Mohammad Jafar Asadi, a high-level officer in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Iran’s leadership, which has been decimated by US strikes, wants to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the US blockade before reestablishing nuclear talks, according to details of its latest counterproposal, which was presented to intermediaries in Pakistan. Trump told reporters...

The Trump administration is arguing that the war in Iran has already ended because of the ceasefire that began in early April, an interpretation that would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval… While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran’s oil tankers from getting out to sea... Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president’s military powers, President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorization or cease fighting....

Brent crude over $119 as Trump sticks with blockade A late update: Oil is now approaching its highest level since the Iran war began. Brent crude has risen over $119 a barrel, up 7% today, after president Donald Trump told Axios he will not lift a naval blockade of Iran’s ports until he secures a deal with Tehran to address the country’s nuclear program. ...

According to the report, air defense activity, including sounds of explosions and anti-aircraft fire, was heard in several districts of the city. Iranian media described the response as intercepting incoming threats. Iran’s state-run Mehr News Agency reported Thursday evening that Iranian air defense systems were actively engaging what it described as “hostile targets” in parts of the capital, Tehran. What We Know So Far Mehr News and other semi-official outlets (including Nour News) confirmed the activation of air defenses. Eyewitness videos circulating on social media show flashes in the night sky, plumes of smoke, and what appears to be ground-based...

While the Fake News Media and the same doomsday “experts” who’ve been wrong for decades scream about “Trump chaos” and “imperial overreach,” President Trump is quietly executing the boldest strategic master plan in a generation. It’s not just about seizing Venezuela’s massive reserves or finally crushing Iran’s terror-sponsoring regime. Those moves are chess pieces in a far bigger game: total containment of Communist China — and, beyond even that, the permanent re-assertion of Pax Americana for the rest of the 21st century. The globalist intellectuals are melting down because their beloved “multipolar world” fantasy is collapsing in real time. Everyone...

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports will continue, and the ceasefire with Iran will be extended, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, citing "serious fractures” within the Iranian regime. “Based on the fact that the government of Iran is seriously fractured, not unexpectedly so, and, upon the request of Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of Pakistan, we have been asked to hold our attack on the country of Iran until such time as their leaders and representatives can come up with a unified proposal,” Trump said in a post shared on Truth Social. “I have therefore directed...

Updated April 21, 2026, 9:54 a.m. ET WASHINGTON — President Trump has rejected the idea of letting talks with Iran keep going if they run past tomorrow’s cease-fire expiration without a deal in place. “Well, I don’t want to do that. We don’t have that much time,” Trump told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday morning when asked about the idea. “They have to negotiate. And, you know, the one thing I’ll say is this: Iran can get themselves at a very good footing. If they make a deal, they can make themselves into a strong nation again, a wonderful nation again,”...

President Donald Trump confirmed that the U.S. has no plans to extend its ceasefire with Iran on Monday. Trump made the statement during an interview with PBS News after he was asked what will happen if the deadline is reached Tuesday evening without a peace deal. "Then lots of bombs start going off," Trump said. On the status of peace talks in Pakistan, Trump said simply, "I don't know." "I mean, they're supposed to be there. We agreed to be there, although they say we didn't. But no, it was set up. And we'll see whether or not it's there....

Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf sent a direct warning to President Donald Trump Monday on X, saying that Iran will not accept negotiations with the U.S. while under threat. "Trump, by imposing a blockade and violating the ceasefire, seeks, in his view, to turn the negotiating table into a table of surrender or to justify renewed warmongering," he said. "We do not accept negotiations under the shadow of threat, and over the past two weeks, we have prepared to reveal new cards on the battlefield," Ghalibaf added. Ghalibaf led the Iranian delegation in talks with Vice President J.D. Vance...

President Donald Trump on Monday said it was "highly unlikely" he would extend the ceasefire with Iran past Wednesday evening if Tehran did not reach agreement to end the conflict.The ceasefire with Iran is set to expire this week and hostilities could resume after talks in Islamabad, Pakistan, failed to result in a permanent agreement. Trump told Bloomberg on Monday that it was "highly unlikely" he would seek to renew or extend the ceasefire. The U.S. has sought a commitment from Iran to never possess a nuclear weapon, an end to its funding of proxy groups in the region, and...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has condemned a US decision to extend the period during which Russia is allowed to sell oil despite Western sanctions. The move means countries can purchase Russian oil and petroleum products already loaded on vessels at sea until 16 May. The US argues that the waiver is meant to ease the energy supply crunch sparked by the US-Israel war with Iran. But in his remarks on Sunday, Zelensky said "every dollar paid for Russian oil is money for the war" in Ukraine. Widespread sanctions have been in place against Russia since President Vladimir Putin launched his...

A photo of an Israeli soldier smashing a statue of Jesus Christ with a sledgehammer in southern Lebanon has sparked widespread condemnation. Israeli officials confirmed the image is genuine and ‘promised to investigate’. Video on link...

...Wars are easy to start but rather harder to stop - and, as Washington should have learned in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, when they do eventually stop, it's not in any place that would have seemed remotely plausible back when you started. In Kabul, you hand the Taliban back more territory than they'd held twenty years earlier; in Baghdad, you invest a fortune in blood and treasure to create a highly functional client state of Iran; in Damascus, you buy a new suit for the al-Qaeda honcho's blood-soaked deputy you let talk his way out of Abu Ghraib, and then...