Free Republic

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has told Iranian counterpart Abbas Araqchi in a call that violation of Turkiye’s airspace by Iranian ballistic missiles was unacceptable, Reuters reports, citing a Turkish Foreign Ministry source. The source said Araqchi told Fidan that Tehran had conducted a wide investigation into the missiles, adding Fidan reiterated Turkey’s demand for all sides to refrain from steps that could put civilians at risk and told Araqchi that Ankara would take measures against missiles targeting it.

Begging for a Way Out. White Flag in Beirut? Hezbollah Makes Desperate Plea for Ceasefire Talks. In a stunning reversal, Hezbollah leadership has reportedly initiated secret feelers for a ceasefire negotiation as Israel debates whether to accept a strategic surrender or move for the total elimination of the group. Eliana Fleming

At present, there is no sign of de-escalation in the Iran conflict. The Strait of Hormuz has become a geopolitical chokepoint that could plunge the global economy into a severe crisis. While European governments work on emergency plans to mitigate soaring energy prices, the maritime insurance market is experiencing a seismic shock. War is raging in Iran. Amid the fog of propaganda, it is increasingly difficult to separate fact from fiction, to distinguish AI-generated material from actual bomb strikes, and to see behind the carefully woven veil of media spin and national interests. Yet, we attempt here to make sense...

An Israeli source added to the Post that UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Joanna Wronecka will arrive in Israel on Monday amid the ongoing escalation. Hezbollah has instructed its members to confront the Lebanese army should it attempt to intervene with the group's activities, a source familiar with the details told The Jerusalem Post. “The instruction is very clear: if the Lebanese army attempts to dismantle a position or prevent rocket fire, confront them,” the source said.

President Trump revealed Monday that he will confer with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about when to end the military campaign against Iran, suggesting the decision would be “mutual” between the US and its Middle Eastern ally. “I think it’s mutual… a little bit,” Trump told The Times of Israel in a phone interview, adding that he and Netanyahu have “been talking.” “I’ll make a decision at the right time, but everything’s going to be taken into account,” the president added. Trump previously suggested that the war against Iran could last approximately four weeks, but other members of his administration...

The mask has not just slipped; the high-voltage exposure of leaked diplomatic cables and thousands of internal emails has vaporized it. The Iran Experts Initiative (IEI) stands exposed as a Tehran-directed influence network, a psychological strike force embedded within the very heart of Western decision-making. This is no academic debate. This is a documented, top-down subversion operation launched by the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS) - a known front for the regime’s intelligence and propaganda apparatus.This cell was never about "cultural exchange"; it was a cold-blooded tactical maneuver designed to inject the Islamic Republic’s talking...

The U.S. Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden has issued a security advisory urging American citizens to exercise increased caution after an explosion occurred outside the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway in the early hours of Sunday. The advisory was published on the embassy’s official website on March 8, following reports of the overnight incident. The embassy guidance is aimed at U.S. nationals residing in or travelling through Sweden. It asks Americans to maintain good personal security, avoid large gatherings, keep a low profile and exercise vigilance in public spaces, particularly near foreign diplomatic facilities. The advisory also refers to existing travel...

Iran continues to launch hundreds of drones towards the Gulf nations, including new rounds of attacks on Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain over the last few days. “13 drones [were] downed east of Riyadh city and eight [were] destroyed upon entering Saudi airspace.” The report added, “Drone attacks continue despite an apology given by Iranian officials to Gulf states.” Additionally, “Saudi Arabia’s air defenses neutralized a fresh wave of drone attacks on Sunday Iran also targeted Aramco’s Shaybah oil field with 21 drones. on Saturday, Saudi defenses intercepted five ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base in...

Following our bombing of Iran, we are hearing the usual caterwauling from the Left about international law. Of course, no one invokes international law when Iran kills our servicemen, or when Hamas massacres Israelis, or when Iran launches missiles against the United Arab Emirates, and so on. There is a certain asymmetry in the invocation of international law.I took a course in international law when I was in law school. It was taught by a distinguished scholar in that field. As I recall, the first section of the course was devoted to the question, is there such a thing as...

This wasn't exactly unexpected; as Operation Epic Fury continues the systemic destruction of Iran's theocratic regime, one of Iran's proxy terror groups has entered the chat. In Yemen, the Shiite, Iran-backed Houthis are now putting out the same kind of gaseous emissions we're accustomed to hearing from groups like this. Iran is apparently trying to talk them back a little. We'll see how that works out.The Iran-backed Houthi terrorist movement has yet to enter the conflict on Iran's side but in recent days has been ratcheting up its rhetoric in support of Tehran, with its leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, declaring...

(Snip) The Air Force’s preparations for war were fascinating. Because the number of aircraft and pilots is fixed and known, and because it was clear a race would develop between Iran’s launch capability and the Air Force’s ability to destroy launchers and missiles, the solution devised by the Air Force was to increase the number of waves. How? Fly to Iran and back three times a day. Every pilot. And how is that done? With stimulant pills. That was the trick they planned. And it worked. When every pilot does this three times a day instead of once or twice,...

Iran's fragile regime suffered another blow today as reports emerged that Mojtaba Khamenei, son of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the man briefly installed as supreme leader, has been killed... Mojtaba, long viewed as the hardline favorite to inherit power despite no formal public role, was reportedly named successor earlier this week amid chaos and Israeli warnings that any new leader would become a target,.. Circulating accounts, including from sources inside Iran, claim Mojtaba was eliminated today—his tenure lasting mere hours—after strikes hit his location. Social media erupted with claims of confirmation, including posts noting his "career" from appointment...

Argentina has issued a new arrest warrant for an Iranian official in connection with the 1994 AMIA Jewish community center bombing in Buenos Aires, at the same time that the alleged mastermind was named the new head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Ahmad Vahidi was appointed head of the IRGC on Sunday, a day after the unit’s previous leader was killed in the first wave of US-Israeli strikes. Vahidi helmed the IRGC’s Quds Force paramilitary arm responsible for attacks abroad at the time of the AMIA bombing. Argentinians see poetry in the first strikes, which killed Iran’s supreme leader,...

This isn’t one war, but two. There is a regional chessboard, on which Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the other Gulf states all play. Iran’s proxies, its drones and ballistic missiles, its nuclear ambitions, its funding of Hezbollah and the Houthis. All of that belongs primarily to this smaller game. Israel has always understood this board. So have the Saudis. So has everyone in the neighbourhood. But there is a second chessboard, vastly larger, on which the United States and China are the primary players. On this board, the central question of the next 30 years is being worked...

President Trump cast Tucker Carlson out of his Make America Great Again movement following the conservative talking head’s loud criticism of the US and Israeli assault on Iran. “Tucker has lost his way,” the commander-in-chief told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Thursday. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.” The comments came after Carlson recently called the strikes on Iran “absolutely disgusting and...

Keir Starmer has said the conflict engulfing the Middle East could continue “for some time” as he insisted the best way forward in the longer term was a negotiated settlement with Iran. The prime minister said the UK was doing “everything we can” to de-escalate the situation, a clear contrast to the US president, who is focused on regime change and has said it was “too late” for Tehran to negotiate. He defended his decision to block initial offensive strikes by the US and Israel at the weekend, saying he stood by his judgment and denying it had damaged the...

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) general declared the United States is “finished” and claimed that even deploying America’s entire aircraft carrier fleet against Iran “won’t be able to do a damn thing” as U.S. and Iranian officials concluded a second round of nuclear talks in Geneva Tuesday under the shadow of an expanding American military buildup across the Middle East. General Mohammad Reza Naghdi, a senior adviser to the IRGC’s commander-in-chief, made the remarks last Wednesday in comments to an Iranian state-affiliated news agency, according to a translation released by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). “Even...

Iran condemned US and Israeli threats on Monday, calling them a blatant violation of international law and insisting that neither country could "do a damn thing" to harm Tehran, Reuters reported. The remarks followed a meeting between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Jerusalem on Sunday, during which they reaffirmed their commitment to countering Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional influence. Netanyahu stated during the meeting with Rubio that Israel had inflicted a "mighty blow" on Iran since the outbreak of the Gaza war and, with the backing of US President Donald Trump, expressed confidence...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s reward came from heaven. Israel used a powerful ballistic missile that flew to the edge of space before plummeting to Earth and blasting Iran’s unsuspecting supreme leader and dozens of his top henchmen last Saturday. The Blue Sparrow, a missile that can fly for 1,240 miles and leaves the Earth’s atmosphere before crashing down, was used by Israel during Operation Epic Fury, killing Khamenei and his cohorts. So intense was the impact that debris was found in western Iraq, according to Israeli sources. The surprise attack came together last week after Israeli officials deliberately gave the impression...

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...