Free Republic

he Republican-led House on Thursday rejected a measure aimed at blocking President Donald Trump from carrying out further military strikes on Iran without congressional approval, delivering a victory for the White House even as lawmakers voice deep unease about the widening conflict. The War Powers Resolution, introduced by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, failed in a 212-219 vote after Republican leaders rallied enough support to defeat it, allowing the Administration to continue its military campaign against Iran for now without seeking new authorization from Congress. All House Democrats voted for the resolution except for Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas,...

China is in talks with Iran to allow crude oil and Qatari liquefied natural gas vessels safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz ​as the U.S.-Israeli war on Tehran intensifies, three diplomatic sources told Reuters. The war, ‌which entered its sixth day on Thursday, has left the critical shipping passageway all-but shut, with countries around the world cut off from a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. China, which has friendly ​relations with Iran and relies heavily on Middle Eastern supplies, is unhappy about the ​Islamic Republic's move to paralyse shipping through the Strait and is pressing...

Imagine all of this sturm und drang over someone who may not even be vertical and respiratory. Ever since the death of Ali Khamenei in the opening seconds of the joint US-Israeli military action, Iran has technically been without a head of state. The Supreme Leader in Iran controls all policy and action, as well as commanding all of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic. Ali Larijani and Masoud Pezeshkian can issue orders while hiding in hospital offices, but they do not have the perceived divine and theological authority that the top mullah has in these systems, and that...

ABC's Jonathan Karl just had a conversation with President Trump in which Trump described Tucker Carlson as someone who had lost his way.In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.”"Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told me. “I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our…— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 5, 2026In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.” "Tucker has...

This could be a major step forward in the fate of a certain South American nation: The United States and Venezuela have reportedly agreed to resume diplomatic and consular relations. The first indication came from News Nation White House Correspondent Kellie Meyer, in the form of a rather terse post on X.U.S. and Venezuela's interim authorities agree to re-establish diplomatic and consular relations.— Kellie Meyer (@KellieMeyerNews) March 5, 2026This was followed by a U.S. News & World Report piece, which had (a few) more details.⁠The ⁠United States and ⁠interim authorities in Venezuela have agreed to re-establish diplomatic and consular ‌relations,...

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has seen his approval rating in the United Kingdom plunge to around 50 points underwater, boasted about his country’s decision to stay out of the conflict in Iran to a group of Muslims on Tuesday. Starmer spoke to Muslims at a Ramadan ceremony held at Westminster Hall on Tuesday night and was applauded when he said, “On Iran, I want to make clear that the U.K. was not involved in the offensive strikes of the U.S. and Israel, and that remains the case.” “As many of you know, I never supported the Iraq war...

The Iranian drone strikes that hit Amazon Web Services facilities in the Middle East have thrust a new question to the forefront of the tech industry: Should data centers be defended like military assets? The attacks — the first known military strikes at an American hyperscaler’s infrastructure — damaged two AWS sites in the United Arab Emirates and one in Bahrain, disrupting services across the region and underscoring how critical data infrastructure is emerging as a potential target in modern warfare. “[Physical attacks] are only going to become more common moving forward as AI becomes more and more significant,” Sam...

A widening Middle East conflict has posed a fresh test for global central banks, as fears of an oil shock and renewed inflation risks complicate policymakers’ calculus for shoring up growth. Crude prices soared on Monday after the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, killing Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Hosseini Khamenei. Tehran responded with missile attacks targeting multiple Gulf countries. Tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most critical chokepoint for oil shipments, has effectively stalled as the threat of attacks from Iran deterred vessels from passing through the waterway. Brent crude prices extended...

As the war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran enters its sixth day, the rate of military resource depletion on both sides has emerged as a critical factor that could determine the outcome of the conflict. Reza Talaei-Nik, a spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Defense, stated on the 3rd, “We have the capability to sustain an ‘offensive defense’ longer than the enemy expects in this war,” adding, “We have no intention of deploying all our advanced weapons and equipment from the outset.” This remark, implying that Iran has yet to use its “advanced weapons,” directly contradicts U.S. President Donald Trump’s...

Iran will target the Israeli nuclear site of Dimona if Israel and the US seek regime change in the Islamic Republic, semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Wednesday, citing an Iranian military official. In recent days, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump have said that the objective of the operation is to “create the conditions for the Iranian people to replace the regime.” While some had said that Trump may claim the condition had been met and end the operation within days, senior Israeli officials told The Jerusalem Post that the US would stay in the fight until...

The WSJ reports that Iran’s "missile cities" have become a strategic liability. Constant drone monitoring and neutralized air defenses have allowed the US and Israel to slash Iranian launches by 86%.The Islamic Republic's "missile cities" strategy, once seen as a significant advantage in case of an armed conflict, has become its biggest weakness during the current conflict with Israel and the US, as what used to be a mobile platform difficult to target now became a predictable target easy to locate, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.According to the report, the US and Israel entered a phase in their...

Attack infrastructure attributed to 'several Iran-nexus threat actors'Multiple Iranian hacking crews have been targeting internet-connected surveillance cameras across Israel and other Middle Eastern countries since the war started on February 28, according to Check Point security researchers. The Tel Aviv-based security shop has tracked "hundreds" of attempts to exploit a handful of bugs in IP cameras made by two manufacturers, Hikvision and Dahua, according to Sergey Shykevich, threat intelligence group manager at Check Point Research, in a conversation with El Reg. The countries targeted in these digital intrusion attempts - Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Cyprus, and Lebanon...

One of the most ludicrous criticisms of President Trump’s war against Iran is that “he has no plan.” As we will see, the President’s future strategic and tactical actions are shrouded in utmost operational secrecy. As they should be. But the national press and our political commentariat - five days into this historic war - are demanding that the President tell us about all of his war plans. Should we tell the surviving Iranian Mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards what our warfighting plans, goals and strategic moves are? Asked another way, did Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and President Franklin Roosevelt...

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk signaled his country will eventually try to obtain its own nuclear weapons as Europe strengthens deterrence amid doubts over U.S. commitment to defending the continent. “Poland takes nuclear security very seriously,” the prime minister said ahead of a weekly government meeting on Tuesday. “As our autonomous capabilities grow, we will strive to prepare Poland for the most autonomous actions possible in this matter in the future.” Warsaw will not be “passive” as it also invests in nuclear power plants, according to the prime minister. Tusk said on Monday that his country was in talks with...

Prediction: This war will end with Iran’s mullahs still in control. (At least, the ones that haven’t been killed yet.) Because it has to: We’re hoping the Iranian civilians will rise up and overthrow the government, but they can’t do that until the bombing stops.Which means that immediately after America and Israel conclude their air strikes, Iran will claim victory because it’s still standing.Whatever happens next will determine the long-term PR fallout of the Iran War — both in America and worldwide. If the Iranian people rebel, seize control of Tehran, and turn it into a Western democracy, President Donald...

John Daniel Davidson at The Federalist accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of forcing President Trump to invade Iran. But as in so many situations, the accusation of “force” is not that straightforward. And Davidson doesn’t make a successful argumentAdvertisementDavidson opines on a statement made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio:‘It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the U.S. or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond against the United States,’ Rubio said. But later he added this: ‘We knew there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that would precipitate an attack against American...

In May 2025, a 15-year-old migrant gunned down a 52-year-old father in Sweden, after being paid almost twenty thousand euros in a murder-for-hire plot; the killer is currently in prison, sentenced to a brief three years and six months, meaning he should be out some time in 2029. Upon his release, prosecutors were asking that the “boy” be repatriated back to his country of origin, but the judges with the power to decide rejected the request, “ruling that expulsion would be disproportionate given the boy’s personal circumstances.” (The “boy” had come to Sweden as a child.) Mind you, the “boy”...

According to a Politico report citing an internal Pentagon notification, United States Central Command (CENTCOM) has requested additional military intelligence officers to support operations against Iran for at least 100 days and possibly through September. When the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran last Saturday, the operation was framed as a swift military campaign. Donald Trump later described it as a limited effort expected to last roughly four to five weeks. ...

More than five years after the high-profile detention of two Australian bloggers, another overland journey through Iran would end in far lengthier imprisonment. British nationals Craig Foreman and Lindsay Foreman, both in their 50s, entered Iran on December 30, 2024 during a round-the-world motorcycle expedition. They crossed from Armenia with valid tourist visas, an approved travel plan, and a licensed Iranian guide. Family members said the couple intended to transit the country en route to Pakistan before continuing toward Australia. Their case followed an earlier incident that had already drawn international scrutiny. In July 2019, Australian travel bloggers Jolie King...

A failure at Cuba’s main thermoelectric plant has caused a massive blackout affecting two-thirds of the island, the Cuban government confirmed Wednesday. The partial collapse of the island’s National Electric System (SEN) — the second in a month — has left nearly 7 million of the island’s almost 10 million inhabitants without power. The outage is also affecting the capital, Havana. The government has not yet specified the reasons for the blackout, which is affecting 10 of the country’s 15 provinces, from Camagüey in the east to Pinar del Río in the west. According to state television, an “unforeseen shutdown”...