Free Republic

Iranians have adopted a new sport in the past few years: knocking the turban from a passing cleric’s head. There are points for technique and for how high and how far you can get their headgear to go. These are small acts of revenge against a hated religious elite who came to power on a wave of arrests and torture and who, as recently as January, ordered thousands of peaceful protesters to be shot in the streets. It’s also a symptom of something larger. Political Islam is in retreat across the Middle East and the wider Muslim world. “The strange...

The Peace Council on Friday published the full roadmap for ending the war in the Gaza Strip, outlining a phased process that includes Hamas’ disarmament, the transfer of civilian and security authority in Gaza to a new Palestinian governing body, an Israeli withdrawal, and a broader political process that could ultimately lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state. The document, titled the "Roadmap of July 30, 2026", serves as the framework for continued implementation of US President Donald Trump’s Comprehensive Plan. According to the document, the roadmap is designed to transform the principles of the 20-point plan from a...

President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu estimated the intense part of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran would last four to six weeks. It is now entering the sixth month without a decisive military victory or a diplomatic breakthrough. Now, as Mr. Trump weighs his next steps and the future of roughly 50,000 U.S. troops across the Middle East, two of Washington's closest regional partners are pressing the president with sharply different visions for how the conflict should proceed. The president received input Wednesday from his partner in this war, Netanyahu, as well as from Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin...

An announcement on Hamas’s agreement to a 15-point Board of Peace proposal that would see the gradual handover of the terror group’s weapons could come in the coming days, an Arab diplomat familiar with the negotiations said. But as reports amassed about an imminent deal, an Israeli official appeared to pour cold water on the optimism, saying that the 15-point proposal “does not adequately address” Jerusalem’s demands for the “complete demilitarization, [which is] a precondition for any process.” “There will be no IDF withdrawal from the Yellow Line in the Gaza Strip before Hamas is disarmed and the Strip is...

Dozens of soldiers from the Givati Brigade’s Tzabar Battalion left the Sde Teiman base without authorization on Thursday afternoon after commanders removed signs and symbols tied to a longstanding battalion tradition, prompting widespread coverage in Arab media that portrayed the incident as a rebellion within the IDF. The soldiers were filmed leaving the base while chanting an obscene slogan against their officers. Some reportedly left their weapons behind before returning home. Videos and images from the scene quickly spread on X and were amplified by Lebanese, Syrian, Qatari and Iraqi outlets aligned with or sympathetic to the Iranian-led regional axis....

Egyptian officials have officially confirmed that an Iranian drone strike was responsible for damaging two US energy tankers at the port of Damietta. Following the strike, the United States carried out limited conventional air raids, opting against a broader military escalation despite warnings of a much harsher response. Egyptian authorities officially confirmed Thursday that an explosion damaging two American energy tankers at Damietta Port was caused by an Iranian drone strike. Egyptian officials emphasized that an investigation into the incident remains underway, noting that no group has formally claimed responsibility for the operation. The official confirmation from Cairo follows statements...

An explosion hit a liquefied natural gas terminal at Egypt's Damietta Port on Wednesday evening during cargo discharge operations, with maritime security officials suspecting an unmanned aerial vehicle attack. Maritime security firm Ambrey reported that a drone struck the American owned, Marshall Islands flagged floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that subsequently spread to a second vessel, Gaslog Salem. Shipping agent Inchcape Shipping Services stated that affected vessels were moved outside the port area while emergency crews contained the flames, allowing other berths to resume operations. The incident follows a target map published by Iranian state television identifying...

President Donald Trump vowed to hit back hard at Iran after it attacked US bases in Jordan on Wednesday, as the Middle East war reignited and once again drew in the Islamic republic's proxies.The warning came after a short lull in the fighting that had spurred hopes of a return to negotiations appeared to draw to an end, sending oil prices jumping five percent over fears of disruptions to global supplies.On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia and the United States announced strikes on militant bases in Iraq, while US ally Israel accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of a truce violation.- 'War by other means'...

President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu concluded a White House meeting Tuesday with both governments describing the talks as “positive and productive” and reaffirming their shared commitment to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, as the president weighs whether to continue negotiations with Tehran or authorize additional military action. Iran dominated the discussions, according to Israeli and White House officials, after Trump warned just hours before the meeting that the United States would strike Iran’s suspected Pickaxe Mountain nuclear facility if Tehran refuses to reach an agreement over its nuclear program. Following the talks, Netanyahu called...

WASHINGTON — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House Tuesday for his first in-person talks with US President Donald Trump since the Iran war began in February, and later described their meeting as “excellent” and “one of the best we’ve ever had.” The White House succinctly called the talks productive and positive. The meeting took place behind closed doors in the Oval Office, with reporters not invited in and without a press conference afterwards. Netanyahu entered the White House through a side entrance that was only partially visible to reporters, and left without fanfare some 90 minutes later. Held...

US-Saudi airstrikes targeting the Popular Mobilization Forces in Iraq killed 20 people, including several Iranian military advisers, according to sources within the Iran-aligned alliance and Iranian media. Two sources within the Popular Mobilization Forces, or PMF, told AFP that five Iranian advisers were among those killed in a strike in the central province of Diyala. AFP journalists reported seeing coffins draped in Iranian flags during funerals organized by the PMF in Baghdad. Iran’s Hamshahri newspaper separately reported that four military advisers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were killed in the overnight strikes. Iranian authorities had not officially confirmed the...

The U.S. and Saudi militaries launched airstrikes late Tuesday on Iranian-backed groups in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said, after Iran and its proxies allegedly targeted American forces over the last few days. The strikes could pose a challenge to a five-day lull in U.S. attacks on Iran, as President Trump says he wants to give diplomacy a chance. It's unclear when — or whether — strikes on Iran could resume. The U.S. also said Tuesday it prevented an Iranian "surprise attack." The U.S.-Saudi operation was aimed at "terrorist logistics and weapons sites across eastern Iraq," CENTCOM said in a statement...

Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Iraq reported drone attacks in their territory Monday amid a lull in US air strikes against Iran, after nearly two weeks of fighting between both sides. The Israel Defense Forces said Monday morning that it shot down two drones over the Jordan border, near the Dead Sea, adding that the drones did not cross into Israeli territory. Their origin was under investigation, the army said. Saudi Arabia’s defense ministry, meanwhile, said it shot down drones aimed at petroleum targets, some in its eastern province and others in the capital Riyadh. It said the drones had...

Around 40% of Iranians consider the US and Israeli military action against the Islamic Republic a “humanitarian intervention,” according to a survey of 31,450 Iranians aged 15 or older living in the country, conducted by the Netherlands-based non-profit research foundation The Group for Analyzing and Measuring Attitudes in Iran (GAMAAN). The survey, titled “Iranians’ Attitudes Toward the 2026 Protests and War,” collected responses from Iranians across the country from June 20 to June 27, 2026, in collaboration with Psiphon, Lantern, and MahsaNet. The survey reports an approximate 95% credibility level with a conservative credibility interval of plus or minus three...

Iran is a theology. It is no longer a country. Not in the way diplomats mean the word. Not in the bureaucratic sense that produces signatures, ministries, chains of command, and solemn communiques printed on heavy paper before disappearing into filing cabinets. What remains of Iran is something stranger: a prayer house where the faithful still answer a call no one can command. MAGA still behaves as though there’s a political switchboard secreted in Tehran, even after six destructive months of war. They imagine some paneled room where a weary official picks up the telephone, listens gravely, and relays instructions...

The US delegation walked out of a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, in protest at comments made by France that compared Washington's voting on human rights to that of authoritarian states. The diplomatic row was initially sparked last week, when the US joined North Korea and Russia in voting against extending Volker Turk's term as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. After the vote on Friday, France's UN mission criticised the US and compared it to North Korea and Russia. "The US used to be a beacon of human rights. Not anymore," it posted on X. In response, US...

A wide spread scale over the secret network used to move Iran's oil revenues around international sanctions has [received] criticism. Senior officials have discovered that [corrupt intermediaries] have misappropriated at least $1.6 billion, with some fleeing the country. The controversy has expose the unofficial network of so-called trusts: companies and intermediates entrusted with receiving and transferring oil revenues outside the international banking system. Speaking on state television on Sunday, the head of Iran's State Inspection Organization, Zabihollah Khodaeian, said one intermediart alone had failed to return $200 million in state funds before leaving the country. Khudaeian added that judicial authorities...

A video with plans and suggestions on how to kill US First Lady Melania Trump was shared on Tuesday by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Tasnim News Agency. The video, seen by The Jerusalem Post, called on "freedom fighters" to target the shops the first lady frequents. It claimed to share "information from several anonymous security networks," showing schemes of how Melania's security operates and the places that she usually goes in New York. A video with plans and suggestions on how to kill US First Lady Melania Trump was shared on Tuesday by Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-linked Tasnim News Agency....

Maritime commerce has become increasingly more dangerous lately, with attacks on cargo ships in the Black Sea, the Red Sea, and the Strait of Hormuz, among others. Now, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean off the Horn of Africa have returned to the list, as Somali pirates take full advantage of the instability caused by the Iran war to get back to their predatory ways. At one point last week, six captured vessels were being held off the Puntland coast as the pirates demanded hefty ransoms. Two of the vessels were released on Saturday.” The Iran conflict left...

US President Donald Trump said that the United States is currently negotiating with Iran and will return to war if the talks fail, in an interview with Axios on Monday. "We are in very deep talks with Iran," Trump told Axios. "If they don't work out, we will go back to very strong military action."Trump said that he paused US strikes on Iran to give negotiations another chance, Axios reported, with the president adding that he would not give the talks with Tehran "much time." "Either it goes fast or not at all," said Trump. Trump added that countries involved...