Free Republic

A nightmare scenario has been playing on eastern European minds with increasing intensity since Donald Trump returned to the White House: what if Russia attacks and the US does not join the fight? On the rare occasions the question is posed out loud, nobody much likes the answer. In mid-May, at a gathering in Tallinn, the US undersecretary of state Thomas DiNanno was asked directly whether American troops would fight if Russia invaded the Baltic states. He shifted uncomfortably in his chair, then gave a meandering answer. It did not include the word “yes”. Politicians from the region usually try...

Fraud, fraud, fraud. That’s been the buzzword since Donald Trump retook the Oval Office and appointed top law enforcement officials who actually want to do something about it. The staggering amount of grift uncovered in Gov. Tim Walz’s Minnesota and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California — among others — has been revealed to have been conducted on an almost incomprehensible, industrial scale. But more and more fraudsters are paying the price as the administration cracks down, and now one of the leaders of the Feeding Our Future scam, where hundreds of millions of dollars were ripped off from federal child‑nutrition programs,...

Scotland have been eliminated from the 2026 World Cup following Croatia's 2-1 win over Ghana, with manager Steve Clarke announcing his resignation. The result in Group L means Scotland cannot finish as one of the eight best third-placed teams that will reach the knockout stage. Scotland announced Clarke would be stepping down after seven years in charge shortly after full-time. It is another group-stage exit from a major tournament for Scotland, who have appeared at nine World Cups and four European Championships without ever progressing past the first phase. Scotland began their first World Cup for 28 years by beating...

Iran attacked another vessel in the Strait of Hormuz Saturday, and the U.S. wasted little time striking back. The American military carried out operations Friday night, but Saturday’s response was described as bigger. United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media that the airstrikes were “at the Commander in Chief’s direction”: After yesterday’s U.S. strikes in response to the Iranian attack on M/V Ever Lovely, Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit M/T Kiku this morning at 4:30 a.m. ET. The Panama-flagged...

U.S. Central Command has released video purporting to show one of its strikes on Iran launched in response to a drone attack a day earlier on a cargo ship in the Strait of Hormuz. Footage released on Friday showed a strike as well as a burst of smoke. U.S. Central Command said the military struck missile and drone locations and coastal radar sites in Iran. VIDEO AT LINK.............. DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. military said Saturday it had struck 10 targets in Iran at President Donald Trump’s direction, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the...

The US military on Saturday conducted additional strikes against multiple targets in Iran. The US launched an additional round of strikes after Iran attacked another ship in the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Per CENTCOM: U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted additional strikes against multiple targets in Iran, June 27, at the Commander in Chief’s direction. After yesterday’s U.S. strikes in response to the Iranian attack on M/V Ever Lovely, Iran was given a chance to honor the ceasefire agreement but elected not to when its forces launched a one-way attack drone that hit M/T Kiku this morning at 4:30...

President Trump on Saturday threatened to wipe Iran off the face of the Earth after US forces launched strikes against the country for its violations of the 60-day memorandum of understanding and ceasefire. “It is very possible that they will never learn!” Trump said, noting that Iranian missile, drone storage locations, and coastal radar sites were hit by US aircraft. “There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started,” he continued. “If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no...

ran claimed Saturday it conducted strikes against U.S. military targets in the Middle East following the U.S.’s recent retaliatory strikes around the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said they targeted positions linked to the U.S. military while the regime’s foreign ministry alleged the U.S. had violated the ceasefire agreement between the two countries, CNN reported Saturday morning, citing Iranian state media outlet Press TV. The U.S. military has yet to confirm any military strikes, according to the outlet. The nation of Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, later reported having been targeted by an Iranian drone strike....

The U.S. military said it struck Iran again, hours after a tanker was hit in the Strait of Hormuz, in the worst escalation since the ​two sides signed an interim peace deal two weeks ago. Each of the warring sides has accused the other of violating the agreement reached two weeks ago to end the four-month-old conflict. "There may come a point ‌when we are no longer able to be reasonable, and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!" U.S. President Donald...

(Malaysia) The Court of Appeal commuted the death sentence imposed on a Rohingya refugee to 30 years’ imprisonment and 24 strokes of the cane for two drug trafficking charges. A three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Azman Abdullah, Datuk Mohd Radzi Abdul Hamid and Datuk Meor Hashimi Abdul Hamid on Thursday (June 25), set aside the death sentence imposed on Khafai Tullah Nabi Hussein and substituted it with 30 years’ imprisonment for each charge. The court ordered all sentences to run concurrently, including the 10-year jail term for the third charge of possessing 37.2g of methamphetamine. On top of the prison...

U.S. forces struck Iranian targets again on Sunday local time, U.S. Central Command said. The new strikes follow Bahrain's claim that Iranian drones struck the Gulf state Saturday, which the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed targeted a "U.S. terrorist army," after U.S. retaliatory strikes on Iran and an earlier attack on a cargo vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump on Friday called Iran's attack a "foolish violation" of the ceasefire, as Tehran and Washington appear to remain at odds on even basic points in their memorandum of understanding, including control of the strait and how Iran will spend...

Podgorica, Montenegro — An Iranian national who is wanted by the United States for mass hacking attacks that caused $3.4 billion in damage was arrested in Montenegro, police in the Balkan country said late Thursday.The 39-year-old man, who holds both the Iranian and Turkish citizenship, is wanted by a federal court in New York on multiple charges including conspiracy to commit computer ⁠fraud, hacking, and identity ⁠theft, a statement said. Police said they located the man in the coastal Montenegrin resort town of Kotor, where he was arrested Thursday by request of the U.S. and the FBI, Montenegrin police added."Since...

Supporters welcomed the agreement as a step toward curtailing Iran’s influence within Lebanon, but others took to the streets, calling it a capitulation. After Israel and Lebanon signed a preliminary agreement in Washington on Friday aimed at establishing a lasting peace between them, the reaction in Lebanon was immediate and sharply divided.Supporters of the U.S.-brokered deal said it was a move to curtail Iranian influence in Lebanon, setting out a pathway for the disarmament of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which Israel is at war with. They also said it asserts Lebanese sovereignty over the country’s internal security.Others, not least...

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain while a ship in the Strait of Hormuz separately came under attack Saturday in Tehran's likely response to overnight airstrikes by the United States. The U.S. had launched airstrikes overnight in response to an Iranian drone attack on a container ship trying to leave the strait Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the war's uneasy ceasefire. Iran has insisted that ships must obey its orders and warned it will start charging fees for transit through the strait. However, ships have been increasingly trying to leave the Gulf in recent days....

Seattle’s “Pride Match” for the Iran-Egypt game is unofficial and unlicensed. That’s entirely the point. SEATTLE — FIFA has not endorsed the Seattle host-city committee’s “Pride Match” designation, which will not be part of the official branding when Iran and Egypt meet tonight at Lumen Field. “I think they’ve always been aware of what we’re doing,” said Louise Chernin, who as chair of the organizing committee’s Pride Match Impact Council began planning for the day nearly a year and a half ago. Chernin began her match day at Rough & Tumble, a women’s sports bar in Ballard, a historically Scandinavian...

The neoconservative pundit Mark Levin posted on X on Thursday, “Here’s a novel idea: stop bullying our ally and cozying up to our enemy.” Megyn Kelly, the influential conservative podcaster, replied, “To which politician could he be talking? I guess we’ll just have to wonder.” Kelly was being tongue-in-cheek. There was no wondering. Levin was talking about J.D. Vance. He just didn’t want to name names. The vice president rocked Washington last Thursday—and infuriated neoconservatives—when he defended the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) deal with Iran at a press briefing. “This does bother me,” Vance said. “You've seen people...

Chinese cars are increasingly driving a wedge between the US, Mexico and Canada ahead of a July 1 deadline to renew North America’s faltering free-trade pact, deepening a rift already torn open by Donald Trump’s tariffs. The US is the only major market Chinese cars have yet to conquer — but it remains firmly off-limits. Washington has in effect banned them to combat suspected surveillance technology amid fears the vehicles, heavily subsidised by Beijing, would kill off America’s domestic auto industry. By contrast, Mexico’s love affair with cheap Chinese cars has made it Beijing’s top car export destination and Canada...

(Translated by Google) Elar Bolaños submitted his resignation on June 23 claiming that his computer systems were altered with information that he did not generate. The institution did not admit the letter, separated him from office and initiated an investigation demanding evidence of his allegations. The National Office of Electoral Processes (ONPE) concluded the appointment of Elar Bolaños Llanos as secretary general, a position he held since September 2, 2020. The measure was officialized by the Chief Resolution N. ° 100-2026-JN/ONPE, issued June 23. However, it is now known that the decision was made after the resignation letter that the...

Iran launched a drone assault targeting Bahrain after overnight airstrikes by the United States. The attacks across the Persian Gulf show the danger of the Iran war again spinning out of control, even after Iran and the U.S. reached an interim deal to try and agree on a final accord to end the conflict. The U.S. had launched its airstrikes in response to an Iranian drone attack on a ship trying to get out of the strait on Thursday, continuing a string of attacks that have shaken the uneasy ceasefire in the war. That Iran targeted Bahrain likely was not...

The Supreme Court issued a rare public statement Friday after two Justices got into an unusually explosive argument. Conservative Justice Samuel Alito had a terse exchange with his colleague, liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, following the release of a highly anticipated immigration decision - a rare win for Donald Trump - on Thursday. The exchange came after Alito delivered the majority opinion in Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, which granted Trump a key 6-3 victory allowing federal immigration officers to turn away asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. Sotomayor took the rare step of reading her dissent from the bench. The...