Free Republic

Iran has decided to shift its policy from defensive to "fully offensive" due to the deadlock in efforts to agree on a permanent end to its war with the United States, a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Monday. Progress towards peace talks and a resumption of oil tanker traffic through the strategic Strait of Hormuz has ground to a halt, with no sign that the warring parties are moving towards ending the conflict that the US and Israel launched on February 28. "Iranian entities must be prepared to escalate tensions in the Strait of Hormuz and wider region, as...

Turkey has renewed its challenge to Greek sovereignty in the Aegean Sea, using Greece's newly approved Special Spatial Framework for Tourism as the latest pretext. In an official statement, the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred to "geographical features whose sovereignty has not been granted to Greece through international treaties" -- language that directly revives Ankara's long-standing "gray zones" theory regarding certain islands and islets in the Aegean. Turkey declared that the Greek spatial plan "will have no legal consequences for Turkey" and accused Athens of attempting to instrumentalize environmental protection for political purposes. Ankara further warned that "unilateral actions...

President Trump threatened to ‘bomb the s***’ out of Oman if it continues negotiations with Iran without American approval as the ceasefire with Tehran nears its expiration. Oman, major US defense ally in Middle East, is negotiating with Iran over a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by placing the narrow waterway, through which one-fifth of the world’s oil passes, under joint control. Trump has previously stated that Iran will not be allowed to control the waterway by charging US-backed oil tankers levies or taxes. President issued dire warning Monday morning during Fox News interview if Oman moves forward...

President Donald Trump on Monday reportedly told Fox News the U.S. would attack Oman if it interferes with the U.S. naval blockade against Iran, marking a new threat against a Gulf State widely viewed as neutral and peaceful.

A new UNICEF survey shows that not only isn’t there a famine in Gaza, but the Hamas settlers of the terrorist enclave are some of the best fed in the Middle East. The UNICEF-led survey rated ‘acute malnutrition’ among children under 5 years old in the Gaza Strip as being at 0.5%. As UN Watch noted, this compares to World Bank data showing a rate of 0.4% in the UK, 0.5% in Germany, 1.6% in Finland and 3.3% in Egypt. Gaza Famine? Not according to UNICEF. A new survey shows Gaza has one of the lowest acute child malnutrition rates...

Andrei Klepach, the chief economist at Russian state development corporation VEB.RF, was reportedly fired on Aug. 16, a day after Russian media widely circulated his warnings that Russia was losing its economic and technological competition with the West. Russian independent media outlet The Bell reported Klepach’s dismissal on Aug. 16, citing two people familiar with the matter. The report came two days after The Moscow Times published excerpts from Klepach’s May remarks, which were subsequently picked up by other Russian media. Speaking at an event organized by the Moscow Exchange’s Nikitsky Club, Klepach reportedly said Russia would be unable to...

President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon on Sunday to scale back planned joint military exercises with South Korea after the Republican president said South Korea declined to help denuclearize Iran. Trump said in a social media post that the exercises slated to begin this week are costly and “send a signal that is totally inappropriate and hostile” to North Korea, which he said “has been unthreatening and respectful” while Trump has been in the White House. The 11 days of exercises involving 18,000 South Korean soldiers were designed to beef up readiness against North Korean threats. A day earlier, Trump...

President Donald Trump's war against Iran is stretching the limits of U.S. aircraft carriers and leaving the western Pacific without one of the key American warships as China shows more signs of aggression. The USS George Washington is departing the Pacific and expected to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East amid growing concerns about mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed carrier. *** .*** The administration says that the Pacific is supposed to be the most important behind the Western Hemisphere,” said Greg Poling, director of the Southeast Asia Program***. Instead, the U.S. is "doing the...

A top Iranian lawmaker appeared to warn President Donald Trump about his personal safety Saturday, telling the president to “worry about his own security” as tensions escalate over control of the Strait of Hormuz. “The U.S. President ought to worry about his own security rather than his endless bluffing regarding the Strait of Hormuz; before he ends up hiding in a food truck,” Ebrahim Azizi, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, wrote on X. Azizi’s reference to a “food truck” appeared to invoke an extraordinary security operation during Trump’s trip to Turkey last month, when...

Every August, the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Georgia is accompanied by familiar reflections about missed warning signs, intelligence failures, and a supposedly unexpected turning point in European security. The language has become so standardized that it obscures a far more uncomfortable reality. Georgia did not reveal a new Russia. It exposed a Russia that had been behaving consistently for nearly two decades while much of the West continued searching for evidence that Moscow had fundamentally changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Describing the failure to recognize this trajectory as a collection of mistakes understates what actually occurred....

The House of Representatives’ socialist “Squad” could soon start looking more like a platoon. With a wave of far-left candidates winning recent Democratic primaries across the country, the radical group is certain to expand — and wield far greater influence — after the November elections, critics say. The Squad will likely go from seven current members to 14. Two virtually guaranteed additions after the midterms are, like “Squad” founder AOC, from the Big Apple. Claire Valdez — who vowed to implement nationwide rent control if elected to Congress — easily won the primary in June for New York’s 7th House...

Reporting Highlights -Ready, Fire, Aim: In a rushed process exempted from normal rules, the Army hired General Dynamics, which brought on a Turkish subcontractor with little vetting, to make artillery shells. -Money for Nothing: Despite being paid $533 million, General Dynamics did not produce a single usable shell at its new factory — and has not been held publicly accountable. -Wages of Failure: Since the Army halted two production lines at the factory, the General Dynamics unit responsible for the debacle has received contract awards totaling $2.5 billion. A robot was on fire. Again. It was the summer of 2024,...

We see a lot of far-left influence on the young people of the United States. So it's troubling to see Communism raise its head in any form, particularly in our own country, given our efforts to defeat and beat back Communism elsewhere, such as during the Korean War. It's also ironic to see the young in South Korea standing up against Communism, perhaps because their country has personally experienced being attacked and has had Communism exerting its influence for years. The young came out to stand up against that on Saturday. Saturday was also Liberation Day, the day South Korea...

US President Donald Trump urges Americans to accept slightly higher gasoline prices as the cost of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and said he would soon declare the Strait of Hormuz a US territory. The comments underscore the growing political risk for Trump as higher fuel prices collide with his campaign promise to lower energy costs, with Democrats already seeking to make the economic fallout from the Iran war an issue heading into the November midterm elections. In a speech in Garden City, Trump says Americans who had to “pay a tiny little bit more for your gasoline”...

U.S. Central Command has unveiled Task Force Falcon Strike, a new multinational attack drone force for the Middle East. This unprecedented initiative integrates U.S. and regional militaries to deploy unmanned one-way attack systems across air, surface, and sub-surface environments. The move comes amid rising Iranian and Houthi drone attacks, prompting CENTCOM to seek a unified, multi-domain deterrent. Allies are being invited to join this coalition, which builds upon earlier U.S.-only efforts like Task Force Scorpion Strike. Falcon Strike will utilize advanced autonomous systems, including USVs, UUVs, and UAS, marking a significant shift towards a more aggressive, collective defense posture in...

TAMPA, Fla. — On Aug. 13, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced efforts to establish the first-ever multi-domain, multinational attack drone task force. The unit, called Task Force Falcon Strike, will employ one-way attack drones consisting of unmanned systems from above, on, and below the sea operated by military support staff from the United States and regional partners. Falcon Strike’s launch occurs nine months after CENTCOM established Task Force Scorpion Strike, the U.S. military's first dedicated one-way attack drone squadron in the Middle East. Scorpion Strike rapidly achieved key operational milestones, including the first-ever launch of an aerial attack drone from...

According to US Energy Secretary Chris Wright, an average of 9 million barrels of oil are passing through Hormuz daily, while between 5 million to 7 million barrels are reaching consumers through “newly upgraded pipelines and export facilities.” Many ships moving covertly through Hormuz with US Navy assistance, going uncounted by analysts who rely solely on open-source data. It also ignores the spectacular transformation of the oil export route that’s currently underway. The United Arab Emirates is fast-tracking a new west-east pipeline to Fujairah, which will allow exports to bypass Hormuz at minimal cost lies outside the strait. The Abu...

Friday on MS NOW’s “On the Line,” host Alicia Menendez said Democratic candidates have made Secretary of War Pete Hegseth “the new boogeyman on the campaign trail.” Menendez said, “Calls are growing for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to lose his job over horrific conditions facing our service members aboard the USS Lincoln. The aircraft carrier has set a modern day record for consecutive days at sea. It has been deployed for nearly nine months as part of President Trump’s war of choice with Iran. Democratic Senate Leader Chuck Schumer says Hegseth must be fired immediately, and he is not alone....

In the five years since the chaotic US withdrawal from Kabul and the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan has become home to one of the world’s worst human rights and humanitarian emergencies. Once central to US foreign policy, with American taxpayers footing a $2.3 trillion bill for its 20-year war there, Afghanistan and its people have largely slipped out of much of the world’s view, despite a convergence of man-made and natural crises that have pushed millions of children to starvation and stripped women and girls of their most fundamental rights. Humanitarian aid to Afghanistan – which is needed by...

Japanese Crown Prince Akishino, the younger brother of Emperor Naruhito, on Thursday said he has “mixed feelings” about the government’s revision to the Imperial House Law that reinforces a rule dictating only men can become emperor. “I believe there is no difference between men and women” in serving the roles of the imperial family to respond to social needs, Akishino said at a news conference ahead of a trip to Paraguay later this month to mark the 90th anniversary of Japanese emigration to the South American country. The comments by Akishino, the next in line for the throne, come just...