Free Republic

US intelligence indicates China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, CNN reported late on Friday, citing three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments. According to intelligence outlined in the CNN report, Beijing is preparing to transfer shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs. These systems pose an asymmetric threat to low-flying US military aircraft, as demonstrated during the five-week war, and they could continue to do so if the ceasefire breaks down. Two sources informed CNN that there are signs Beijing is attempting to route shipments of the weaponry through third...

Abdirashid Ismail Said was the centerpiece of Attorney General Keith X. Ellison’s attempt to pretend that he was also being tough on Somali fraud. Since Said had already been convicted of Medicaid fraud in 2022, he should never have been allowed to bill Medicaid for anything. And once he was charged, he should never have been released on bail. But he was and did and now he’s on the run, and we’re all supposed to pretend that Ellison tried really hard and just couldn’t figure things out. The Minnesota Attorney General announced in December 2023 that Said is responsible for...

A US official denied on Saturday that Washington had agreed to release frozen assets belonging to Iran, contradicting earlier reports. Reuters had reported that the United States agreed to release Iranian funds held in Qatar and other foreign banks, citing a senior Iranian source, which described the move as a goodwill step ahead of talks.

MINNEAPOLIS — Abdirashid Said is the original Personal Care Assistant company fraudster who stole taxpayer money while claiming to operate out of a mailbox at an office on Central Avenue in Northeast Minneapolis. After he was convicted in 2021 and ordered to have nothing to do with companies that receive Medicaid money, other PCA companies took his place at the Central Avenue office. And Said started receiving checks from them. "Were those checks for employment for you, Mr. Said?" former state prosecutor Steve Forrest asked at a probation violation hearing. "No, they were for loans," Said said. Said claimed the...

An Iranian negotiating delegation led by Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqher Ghalibaf arrived in Islamabad Friday ahead of Saturday’s peace talks with the United States, which Ghalibaf demanded accept Iran’s “preconditions” before talks could begin. Speaking from Islamabad, Ghalibaf claimed Iran had goodwill toward negotiations but no trust in the United States, adding that the Islamic Republic was ready to reach a deal if Washington offered what he described as a genuine agreement and granted Iran its rights, Iranian state media reported. Ghalibaf stated earlier that Tehran’s demands include a ceasefire in Lebanon, which Iran and mediating Pakistan have stated was...

President Trump told The Post on Friday that US warships are being reloaded with “the best ammunition” to resume strikes on Iran if peace talks in Pakistan fail. Trump spoke shortly after Vice President JD Vance boarded Air Force Two en route to Islamabad, where he will be joined by special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner to negotiate a final peace after a two-week cease-fire was reached on Tuesday. “We’re going to find out in about 24 hours. We’re going to know soon,” Trump said in a phone interview when asked if he thought the talks would...

Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated his opposition to Taiwanese independence during a meeting with Cheng Li-wun, leader of Taiwan's pro-Beijing opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party. Her official trip to Beijing, the first such visit in a decade, sparked controversy in the self-ruled island that China claims as its territory. Cheng's trip comes a month before US President Donald Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing for a summit with Xi. The United States has been piling pressure on Taiwanese opposition lawmakers to back a proposal for defence purchases, including US weapons, to deter a potential Chinese attack. Cheng has railed against the...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday declared a 32-hour ceasefire in Ukraine over the Orthodox Easter weekend, following an earlier call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a pause in some of the hostilities to observe the holiday. Putin's decree, released by the Kremlin, orders Russian forces to observe a ceasefire starting at 4 p.m. Saturday and lasting until the end of Sunday. Zelenskyy proposed earlier in the week that each side stop targeting each other's energy infrastructure over the holiday, saying he made the offer through the United States, which has been mediating talks between delegations from Moscow and...

BOSTON, April 8 (Reuters) - A federal judge on Wednesday halted a move by U.S. President Donald Trump's administration to end legal protections granted to over 5,000 Ethiopians that have allowed them to live and work in the United States. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston marked the latest legal setback for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's efforts to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designation for 13 countries in furtherance of Trump's hardline immigration agenda. TPS under federal law is available to people whose home countries have experienced natural disasters, armed conflicts or other extraordinary...

President Trump lashed out at Iran’s handling of the Strait of Hormuz since the two-week cease-fire came into force – claiming “That is not the agreement we have!” “Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. The vital waterway, through which 20% of the world’s oil passes daily, has effectively been closed since the US and Israel launched their first attacks on Iran as part of “Operation Epic Fury” on Feb. 28. One of the tankers was hauling one million barrels...

The shooting of Carlos Ivan Mendoza Hernandez by federal immigration agents on Tuesday is a sickening reminder. It is a sign of what’s to come if California doesn’t do more to protect its communities from government agents behaving like a lawless occupying force

Victoria Cross recipient Ben Roberts-Smith had written to Australian Federal Police and the Office of the Special Investigator multiple times offering to hand himself in before his high-profile arrest in front of his teenage daughters at Sydney Airport this week. Veterans have reacted ­furiously to what they see as an orchestrated and deliberate attempt to humiliate Australia’s most decorated soldier to justify only the second arrest after the Office of the Special Investigator’s (OSI) six-year, $300m investigation into ­alleged war crimes. Roberts-Smith was arrested in front of media cameras on Tuesday as he arrived at Sydney Airport on a Qantas...

As we cross the one month mark of the Israeli-American war on Iran, a sufficient corpus of data is emerging to contemplate the kinetic dynamics of the conflict. This is a very strange war. It is not merely the fact that the roster of combatants and associated parties - Netanyahu, President Trump, Lindsay “Holden Bloodfeast” Graham - comprise the most polarizing figures in world politics today. As if to punctuate this fact, I fully anticipate angry comments berating me for using a sanitized and emotionally titrated word like “polarizing.” But we digress. Far more interesting than endless apoplexy over Israel...

A fragile ceasefire agreement in the war began with bombs continuing to explode in Lebanon and contradictory statements about whether Iran will continue to control the critical Strait of Hormuz energy choke point.But the most likely scenarios moving forward involve either Iran exerting more control over global energy markets than it did before the fighting started in March, or the current tenuous agreement merely delaying another military escalation by days or weeks, geopolitical and energy experts said.

Following the US-Iran Ceasefire, Iran announced a closing of the international traffic separation scheme by mining the area and re-routing ships through a new traffic pattern within the territorial waters of Iran and under jurisdiction and control.

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, Joe Scarborough eagerly enlisted conservative voices—from Fox to Megyn Kelly to even Tucker Carlson—to do his anti-Trump dirty work. File it under: the enemy of my enemy is my friend. [snip] Brzezinski then introduced a lengthy clip of Megyn Kelly delivering a bleep-filled tirade against Trump’s social media posts on Iran. Amid widespread criticism of Trump’s use of an f-bomb in his Truth Social post on Iran, Kelly—ironically—delivered a profanity-laced rant of her own.Get the rest of the story and view the video here.

President Donald J. Trump laid out clear objectives in Operation Epic Fury — and in just 38 days, the greatest fighting force the world has ever known has met those objectives with overwhelming strength and lethal precision. Iran has now agreed to a ceasefire and reopening the Strait of Hormuz as the Trump Administration negotiates a broader peace agreement — once more proving Peace Through Strength victorious.Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: “From the strike that took out Qasem Soleimani to tearing up the disastrous Obama Iran deal, to the precision campaign that obliterated Iran’s nuclear sites in Operation Midnight Hammer...

Americans have increasingly negative views of Israel and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. * 60% of U.S. adults have an unfavorable view of Israel, up from 53% last year. * 59% have little or no confidence in Netanyahu to do the right thing regarding world affairs – up from 52% last year. * In both political parties, majorities of adults under the age of 50 now rate Israel and Netanyahu negatively. The survey was conducted March 23-29 among 3,507 U.S. adults. It was fielded about a month into the U.S.- and Israeli-led...

All U.S. Ships, Aircraft, and Military Personnel, with additional Ammunition, Weaponry, and anything else that is appropriate and necessary for the lethal prosecution and destruction of an already substantially degraded Enemy, will remain in place in, and around, Iran, until such time as the REAL AGREEMENT reached is fully complied with. If for any reason it is not, which is highly unlikely, then the “Shootin’ Starts,” bigger, and better, and stronger than anyone has ever seen before. It was agreed, a long time ago, and despite all of the fake rhetoric to the contrary - NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS and, the...

Megyn Kelly on "Piers Morgan Uncensored" discussed the damage sustained by the Trump political coalition, the global economy, and U.S. allies, after 40 days at war with Iran. “The question is now not, who has Trump lost. The question is who remains," she said about the MAGA coalition. "He’s underwater with men, including young men and young people. The young person coalition that Charlie Kirk delivered to the president is gone. They’ve abandoned Donald Trump." "These battles in the Middle East have been fought now for 20-plus years, and we continue to learn the same lesson over and over. It’s...