Free Republic

Turkish Foreign Minister: We must stop Israel. Either by peace or by force.

Russian President Vladimir Putin waited three days before commenting on Hamas's massacre of Israelis, which happened to take place on his 71st birthday. When he did, he blamed the United States, not Hamas. "I think that many will agree with me that this is a clear example of the failed policy in the Middle East of the United States, which tried to monopolize the settlement process," Putin told Iraq's prime minister. It was a further six days before Putin spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to offer his condolences for the slaughter of around 1,200 Israelis. Ten days after...

EILAT, ISRAEL — In a moment I’ll give you a preview of my interview with Israeli Minister Gideon Sa’ar, a member of Israel's security cabinet and the highest-ranking Israeli official I’ve interviewed since the war with Hamas began. But first let me just take a moment to share with you what my wife, Lynn, and I saw last night while we were driving south from Jerusalem to Israel’s southernmost city. Located right on the gorgeous, glistening Red Sea, Eilat is an ancient city even mentioned in the Bible. Today, Eilat is a resort community where typically hundreds of thousands of...

As the United States focuses on national security threats emanating from China and Russia, it hasn’t lost sight of the threat posed by Iran and North Korea. At a congressional hearing on Thursday, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley said Iran threatens to destabilize the Middle East with its continuing support for terrorists and proxy forces. “Also, Iran is taking actions to improve its capabilities to produce a nuclear weapon, should it make the decision to do so, while continuing to build its missile forces,” Milley told the the House Appropriations Committee on Defense. …

The U.S. and Israel kicked off a massive combined weeklong military exercise Jan. 23, the largest since Israel was moved to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility in 2021. U.S. officials told Air & Space Forces Magazine the exercise, dubbed Juniper Oak, was notable in both size and scope. CENTCOM said everything from space assets, a carrier strike group, strategic bombers, stealth fighters, electronic warfare aircraft, Special Operations forces, and crews operating HIMARS precision artillery launchers would drill in a “combined joint all-domain exercise.” The exercise will run from Jan. 23-27 and involve 180,000 pounds of live munitions and 6,400...

Ambassador Richard Mills Deputy U.S. Representative to the United Nations New York, New York January 17, 2023AS DELIVEREDThank you, Mr. President. Assistant Secretary-General Karis and Metropolitan Anthony, thank you for your briefings today.Let me start by being clear: The United States takes seriously allegations of violations of human rights, including the freedom of religion or belief. We expect all countries to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, and we call out those, friend or foe, who fail to meet them – including ourselves when that happens.But really, can any informed person take seriously Russia’s purported commitment to religious freedom in...

Preparing for any potential war against Iran, the Biden administration has formally elevated Israel in military planning.... ...For the Pentagon, Israel is the most prized military and intelligence partner in the Middle East, with its vast combat experience and advanced technologies. With the end of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, and with the brokering of the Abraham Accords by the Trump administration, Washington sees an opportunity to incorporate Israel into a new regional alliance. ... ..."CENTCOM will now work to implement the U.S. Government commitment to a holistic approach to regional security and cooperation with our partners," the Tampa-based command...

Part Eight of the Twitter Files came out this afternoon... "a trillion dollars more in deficit spending" US Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, speaking out about the massive spending bill... A Democrat-run US House committee voting to release President Trump's tax returns... Preparations underway in Washington for a previously undisclosed visit by Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky... The United States calling for a political accord in Haiti ahead of a UN Security Council session... The Taliban in Afghanistan releasing two Americans as a "Goodwill Gesture"... The Russian military in Syria says last night's Israeli strikes in Syria... "I know they...

DUBAI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Iran has built a hypersonic ballistic missile, the semi-official Tasnim news agency quoted the Revolutionary Guards' aerospace commander as saying, in remarks likely to heighten concerns about Iranian missile capabilities. "This missile has a high speed and can manoeuvre in and out of the atmosphere. It will target the enemy's advanced anti-missile systems and is a big generational leap in the field of missiles," commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh was quoted as saying. Hypersonic missiles can fly at least five times faster than the speed of sound and on a complex trajectory, which makes them difficult...

A senior Israeli official representing Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Monday declared that Iran talks are “dead”.The official called on Europe and the US on Monday to begin talking about demands for a “longer, stronger” nuclear agreement with Iran, saying current talks aimed at reviving a 2015 pact were dead after Jerusalem provided proof that Tehran had not been forthright during negotiations.Lapid and his top aides were in Berlin Monday, where the Israeli Prime Minister says he passed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz “sensitive and relevant intelligence information” on Iran’s nuclear program.The day prior, Germany, France, and the UK issued a...

The purchase of Su-35 fighter jets from Russia is on the agenda of the Iranian Air Force, Commander of the Iranian Air Force Hamid Vahedi said. The final decision on the purchase of Su-35 fighters rests with the Iranian Army Command and the Armed Forces General Staff Command, Vahedi told Iran's BORNA news agency in an interview on Sunday.

Joe Biden is planning to sign a new Iran nuke deal without anyone knowing what is in it. Fifty lawmakers, including thirty Democrats, want to see what’s in it before Biden signs it, and asked for transparency in letter. “We are deeply concerned about multiple provisions that reportedly may be contained in the final language of any agreement with the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism,” the letter, spearheaded by Reps. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), states. The letter raises concerns about reported provisions of US sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and the Iran bank. The lawmakers...

During a Wednesday interview on FNC’s “Fox & Friends,” former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took President Joe Biden to task over the White House’s plan to reenter the Iran nuclear deal. Netanyahu argued that the “dangerous deal” was “even worse than the first one.” He lamented that the deal gives Iran “everything to threaten all of us and gives nothing to us in return.” “I think this is a horrible deal; a dangerous deal that will pave Iran’s path with gold — a golden-paved highway to a nuclear arsenal,” Netanyahu emphasized. “If Iran has nuclear weapons, they don’t merely...

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan blamed Israel for killing civilians during Operation Breaking Dawn in Gaza. "There is no excuse for the murder of children," he said, adding:...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to travel to the Middle East this week, a rare trip abroad intended to signal that the protracted and costly war in Ukraine hasn’t diminished Moscow’s place on the world stage. In only his second trip outside Russia since the country invaded Ukraine in February, Mr. Putin is set to travel to Tehran on Tuesday, where he will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. The visit reflects the importance Mr. Putin places in maintaining the leverage Russia gained from years of military and diplomatic intervention in the Middle East.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Tehran on Tuesday, the Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported Monday, citing spokesperson Dmitry Peskov. The trip signifies a new era of Turkey-Iran-Russia relations, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also heading to Tehran to meet his Iranian and Russian counterparts this week. This comes in the wake of US President Joe Biden visiting the region. The goal of the July 18-19 meeting in Iran is ostensibly part of the Astana process relating to Syria, and could have significant ramifications for Syria, which remains...

The planned visit by US President Joe Biden to the Middle East next month is highlighting shifts in the region. Although Biden will be visiting Israel and the Palestinian Authority, the spotlight is on his trip to Saudi Arabia for a regional meeting. His predecessor, Donald Trump, together with then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, created the Abraham Accords in 2020, a treaty linking Israel with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan. These were strengthened under the Bennett-Lapid government as was particularly evident in March, when Lapid managed to convene the foreign ministers of four Arab countries and US Secretary...

Iran has showed off what it says is a new high-tech “missile city” with an underground stash of rockets operated by its Revolutionary Guards. The base was inspected by Guards commander Hossein Salami who boasted that it makes up only a “small section of the great and expansive missile capability” possessed by Tehran. Footage broadcast by state TV showed rows of missiles stashed in a depot at the underground base, while the head of the Guards’ naval unit said the site was equipped to detect enemy signals. The report claimed the base’s “electronic warfare equipment” included radar, monitoring, simulation and...

The warplanes, a mix of at least 14 MiG-29 fighters and Su-24 fighter-bombers, appear to have taken off from a base in Russia sometime in the middle of May and flown to Hmeimeem, Russia’s airbase on Syria’s Mediterranean coast. There they were repainted, their Russian Federation Air Force markings obscured, before flying more than 1,200 miles and landing in eastern Libya, in territories controlled by Russia’s ally, strongman-in-waiting Khalifa Haftar. The deployment, which the Pentagon revealed last week and Moscow denied, is the latest in a series of escalations that have seen all types of weapons — Turkish and Emirati...

Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, said the nation is using an array of advanced centrifuges to enrich uranium in violation of its 2015 nuclear deal, the Associated Press reported. President Trump exited the deal last year and imposed crushing sanctions that have dealt a severe blow to Iran’s economy. Adding to the tension is the revelation an Iranian tanker that had been detained in Gibraltar — which Tehran promised wouldn’t go to Syria — was off its coast, satellite photos obtained by the AP showed.