Free Republic

In late February, the Israeli Knesset passed the NGO Funding Transparency Bill by 40 to 34. It had been a long journey for the bill, which despite, its neutered, state was still a declaration of war by the conservative Likud Party against the shadow NGO empire that was the Soros way. While the bill was no longer able to empower the lifting of tax exempt status for foreign funded NGOs and it only addressed foreign funding of NGOs by government entities, it was a major step for foreign funding transparency. The Soros empire had been built on non-transparency, on hidden...

For decades, Iran survived by staying just below the threshold of direct confrontation. It relied on shadow oil shipments, asymmetric attacks, and strategic disruption. That formula worked against sanctions. It is now colliding with something it was never built to handle: a sustained, enforced blockade.And markets are only beginning to understand what that means.How a Shipping War Turned Into Economic ContainmentThe escalation did not begin with the blockade. It began with Iran attempting to weaponize uncertainty.Early in the conflict, Tehran targeted commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, effectively freezing traffic through one of the world’s most critical energy chokepoints....

We’re approaching 60 days of the so-called Iran war, and we’re still getting these loud voices that Donald Trump has failed, that the war’s not going well. It’s completely nonempirical. It’s antithetical to the evidence. Here we are at 60 days, and Iran is losing about $500 million in input per day. It’s running out of storage space in a week or two for its daily output of oil, at which point they either have to stop pumping or they’re going to have—if they don’t stop pumping—their wells will collapse. They either have to stop pumping, or they have to...

The missiles and bombs may have stopped, at least for the moment, but the war between the US and Iran continues. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the US sanctions remain in place, and the fundamental issues separating the combatants remain unresolved. The bilateral negotiations have gone nowhere, and the two sides remain far apart. This stalemate has puzzled observers since it’s not hard to see the outlines of a deal. For Iran, the minimum acceptable goal is regime survival. For the US, it is the end of the Iranian nuclear program, which poses an existential threat to America’s regional...

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are seeking to remove Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi from his position, Iran International reported. According to the report, which quoted two sources familiar with the matter, Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf believe that Araghchi is following instructions from Iranian Revolutionary Guard chief Ahmad Vahidi on matters relating to nuclear talks - without informing Pezeshkian. Thus, in the opinions of Pezeshkian and Ghalibaf, Araghchi is no longer acting as a cabinet minister as much as he is acting as an aide to Vahidi, who is reportedly the most powerful figure in the IRGC....

Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has promised that the US will not remain in the Strait of Hormuz. In a written message, Khamenei wrote, "Today, two months after the beginning of the campaign of aggression by global bullies in the region and America’s disgraceful failure, a new chapter is beginning in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz." "Iran, through its management of Hormuz, will ensure the security of the Gulf region and eliminate the possibility of exploitation by enemies. The new laws and management of the Strait will bring stability and prosperity to all the peoples of the...

Donald Trump has told Iran to 'get their act together' over America's demands to stop its nuclear programme and to 'get smart soon.' US President shared an AI-generated image of himself wielding a large gun while surrounded by explosions with the caption: 'No more Mr. Nice Guy!' It was accompanied with a warning to the mullah regime. Trump said: 'Iran can't get their act together. They don't know how to sign a nonnuclear deal. They better get smart soon!' The price of Brent Crude - the international benchmark for oil - has risen to $115 per barrel as talks to...

Palestinian officials accused the IDF of weaponizing trained rats to invade Gaza and attack Palestinian children in a series of reports last week, marking the latest in a series of animal-related conspiracy theories directed against Israel. According to Palestinian Media Watch (PMW), Jamal Obeid, a member of the Supreme Leadership Body of Fatah in Gaza, accused Israel of introducing rats into previously uninfested areas of the Gaza Strip, calling it “a visible fact.” “There are rodents in some areas of the Gaza Strip... that were not known here in the Strip,” PMW quoted him as saying, based on Facebook posts...

President Trump says Iran is “in a State of Collapse” and wants the Strait of Hormuz opened “as soon as possible” while talks continue. That is the pressure point right now: Tehran wants relief, global energy markets want the waterway open, and the U.S. blockade is still being used as leverage. Fox News highlighted Trump’s latest comments Tuesday afternoon: NEW: President Trump says Iran tells him it is in a "State of Collapse" and wants the U.S. to open the Strait of Hormuz as soon as possible. pic.twitter.com/C95ebyxa70— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 28, 2026Axios put Trump’s Tuesday claim in the...

A California Democrat is facing backlash after hosting a Hamas-associated group at his office on Capitol Hill last week. Rep. Derek Tran welcomed a group of leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as part of the "National Muslim Advocacy Day," an annual lobbying event organized by Muslim advocacy groups. CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, was recently designated as a terrorist organization by the state of Texas and Florida following accusations that the group supported funding for Hamas. The group has since filed defamatory lawsuits against Governors Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis. Among those in attendance...

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is quitting the Opec and Opec+ groups of major oil producing nations next month after nearly 60 years of membership. The UAE said its decision would help it meet growing global energy demand in the long term after recent investments to boost its production capacity. It is seen as a blow to the cartel, with one analyst describing the exit as "the beginning of the end of Opec". The Gulf state's energy minister said being a country with no obligation under the groups would give it more flexibility. Opec was formed in 1960 by five...

The United Arab Emirates announced Tuesday that it will exit OPEC on May 1. “This decision follows a comprehensive review of the UAE’s production policy and its current and future capacity and is based on our national interest and our commitment to contributing effectively to meeting the market’s pressing needs,” the UAE energy ministry said in a statement.

Oil prices have risen after plans for a second round of peace talks between the US and Iran stalled again. Brent, the global benchmark, rose by around 2% to $109.33 (£80.72) a barrel, while US-traded crude also increased by 2% at $96.78. US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Washington had cancelled plans to send a team to Pakistan for negotiations with their Iranian counterparts. Brent crude has risen by more than 10% since Trump announced last week that he would extend a ceasefire with Tehran to give its leadership a chance to present a "unified proposal".

The gunman who opened fire outside the White House Correspondents' Dinner called himself the 'Friendly Federal Assassin' in a chilling manifesto he wrote before the attack. Cole Allen, 31, sent the eerie anti-Trump writing to his family members just 10 minutes before he fired shots at the hotel in Washington, where the ritzy press gala was taking place on Saturday night. The harrowing writing was given to police by a relative, a US official said. According to the New York Post, Allen's manifesto read: 'Turning the other cheek is for when you yourself are oppressed. I'm not the person raped...

JPPI says Beijing’s escalating rivalry with the US, alignment with Muslim nations, and adoption of anti-Western narratives is changing its previously positive attitude to JewsAntisemitism is rising in China, a country previously considered almost free of anti-Jewish hatred, according to a new research report by the Jewish People Policy Institute. Anti-Jewish tropes have moved from marginal online spaces into official media, academia, and state-sanctioned discourse, often through a deliberate and complete blurring of distinctions between Israel, Jews, and Judaism, the study found. Update: After publication of this article, the Chinese Embassy in Israel firmly rejected the findings in the study,...

ISLAMABAD — Tehran held firm in its claim that its foreign minister Abbas Araghchi would not meet with US negotiators for a second round of talks during his Saturday visit to Islamabad — throwing into question the future of the negotiations. Abbas and the Iranian delegation left for the airport shortly before 6 p.m. local time after holding meetings with primary Pakistani mediators Field Marshal Asim Munir and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed on Friday that Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would leave the US for “direct talks” with Tehran in Pakistan...

“Iranian officials left peace talks in Pakistan this afternoon without meeting the US delegation, ruling out 'maximalist demands'. Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived in Islamabad on Friday and held a series of meetings with Pakistani officials, including the Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan's Army Chief, Field Marshal Asim Munir, today. But Iran said it would 'not accept maximalist demands' as their officials left without meeting US representatives.”

While the Trump administration continues to put the economic squeeze on what and who is left of the Iranian government, the Iranian royal family in exile hasn't been silent. Reza Pahlavi, the Crown Prince and heir to his father, the late Shah of Iran, has been keeping up the constant drumbeat of return, even though he has been effectively iced out of any negotiations between the Trump administration and the Islamic regime. That is as it must be. Operation Epic Fury had distinct parameters for the security of the world and the United States, and not one of them was...

Since the start of Israel’s most recent war with Lebanon, the Lebanese state has blamed Hezbollah for plunging the country into war at Iran’s behest. It now seems inclined to pursue a definitive solution to the problem. In initiating direct talks with Israel, Lebanon is hoping not only to end conflict with Israel but also to eliminate the threat Hezbollah wields inside the country.

Food for thought. Iran Is Not Winning. It Is Unraveling. The prevailing narrative on Iran has it almost perfectly reversed. We are told that Tehran is winning a war of wills in the Gulf and that Donald Trump is gambling recklessly with the world’s most sensitive chokepoint. In reality, Iran is not consolidating strength; it is managing decline. And Trump’s play on the Strait of Hormuz has quietly forced energy markets to reprice security—tilting the balance decisively toward the Americas, and away from Europe, Asia and China. The Islamic Republic no longer resembles a confident revolutionary project. With the old...