Free Republic

Action Follows Last Month’s Seizure of 92 IRGC DomainsSAN FRANCISCO – The United States has seized 27 domain names that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) unlawfully used to further a global covert influence campaign.As described in the seizure documents, all 27 domains were being used in violation of U.S. sanctions targeting both the Government of Iran and the IRGC. Four of the domains purported to be genuine news outlets but were actually controlled by the IRGC and targeted audiences in the United States, to covertly influence United States policy and public opinion, in violation of the Foreign Agents Registration...

Beijing is threatening to take Americans in China hostage if the Department of Justice doesn’t drop its prosecution of several Chinese research scientists arrested on U.S. soil this year, according to a report on Saturday. Chinese government officials have repeatedly warned their U.S. counterparts that Americans in China face being detained if its demands are not met, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources familiar with the matter. The drastic action — dubbed “hostage diplomacy” — would be in retaliation for the arrests of at least five Chinese military-affiliated scholars visiting American universities to conduct research. The scientists were charged...

President Donald Trump has secured the release of two American hostages held captive by Houthis in Yemen, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Wednesday.  "We join all Americans in welcoming their newly regained freedom," he tweeted. The two Americans, Sandra Loli and Mikael Gidada, and the remains of a third, Bilal Fateen, were released in exchange for the return of about 250 of the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels from Oman, according to the White House.  Oman's state news said the American captives were flown out of Yemen on an Omani plane. It said 250 "Yemeni brothers" who received treatment in Oman have been returned to Yemen's...

A former Iranian hostage who was tortured by the oppressive regime slammed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for abandoning him and other detainees while the Obama administration pursued the landmark nuclear deal with Tehran. Nizar Zakka, a Lebanese national who was detained in Iran from 2015 to 2019 on charges he spied for the United States, lashed out on Tuesday at Biden after the former vice president accused President Donald Trump of treating Egyptian president Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi as his "favorite dictator." "With all due respect Mr. Biden, I don't think you are well-positioned to comment on this subject," Zakka...

Democrats, their liberal media, Never-Trump RINOs and Liz Cheney are very upset to hear Russia has been paying the Taliban to kill US soldiers in Afghanistan. They’re not doing a very good job. ** There were 22 US deaths in Afghanistan total in 2019. ** There have been 9 US deaths in Afghanistan so far this year. ** Compare that to the 496 deaths in 2010 and 412 deaths in 2011 under Obama!Facts matter.The Taliban also laughs at these latest reports. In a new report at The Daily Beast the Taliban admits Russia has been paying them for US...

Bill Clinton's triumphant return from North Korea with two rescued US journalists had Hollywood written all over it -- from the Burbank airport to the big-time producer who bankrolled the expedition to the celebrity public-relations firm that orchestrated the homecoming. A key player in Clinton's high-flying diplomatic mission to rescue Laura Ling and Euna Lee was entertainment mogul Steve Bing, a longtime "Friend of Bill" who lent the ex-president his private Boeing 737. The multimillionaire mogul paid about $200,000 in fuel and other costs that came with the trans-Pacific flight.

Today, President Donald J. Trump announced his intent to appoint the following individual to a key position in his Administration:Roger D. Carstens of Virginia, to be the Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs.Roger D. Carstens is currently a Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor at the Department of State, where he oversees the Bureau’s work in Near Eastern Affairs, Western Hemisphere Affairs, and the Office of Security and Human Rights.  Mr. Carstens previously worked overseas with international NGOs in Somalia and Jordan, where he provided humanitarian assistance and stability support to Syrian refugees and...

Robert Levinson, a former FBI special agent who disappeared while traveling on Iran’s Kush Island in 2007, has “died while in Iranian custody,” his family announced Wednesday. ---SNIP--- “Those who are responsible for what happened to Bob Levinson, including those in the U.S. government who for many years repeatedly left him behind, will ultimately receive justice for what they have done,” the announcement said. That’s a reference to President Barack Obama’s administration, which did not secure Levinson’s release despite years of negotiating with Tehran in the lead-up to the implementation of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

On March 15, 1995, by Executive Order 12957, the President declared a national emergency with respect to Iran to deal with the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States constituted by the actions and policies of the Government of Iran.  On May 6, 1995, the President issued Executive Order 12959, imposing more comprehensive sanctions on Iran to further respond to this threat.  On August 19, 1997, the President issued Executive Order 13059, consolidating and clarifying those previous orders.  The President took additional steps pursuant to this national emergency in Executive Order 13553...

@realDonaldTrump tweet at 5:52 pm on 1/4/2020: Iran is talking very boldly about targeting certain USA assets as revenge for our ridding the world of their terrorist leader who had just killed an American, & badly wounded many others, not to mention all of the people he had killed over his lifetime, including recently.... ....hundreds of Iranian protesters. He was already attacking our Embassy, and preparing for additional hits in other locations. Iran has been nothing but problems for many years. Let this serve as a WARNING that if Iran strikes any Americans, or American assets, we have..... ....targeted 52...

TEL AVIV: Five days ago, an undisclosed intelligence agency intercepted a telephone call made by the head of Iran’s Quds Force, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, in which he was heard ordering his proxies in Iraq to attack the U.S embassy in Baghdad, as well as other Israeli and American targets, with the aim of taking hostages, Israeli sources say. It’s unclear whether this was a lapse in tradecraft on the part of the usually savvy Soleimani or whether the notorious Iranian military leader’s phone calls were being routinely intercepted. Nor is it clear whether it was the US or another...

Iran threatens rape of Obama daughter Warns of mass abductions, brutal killings of American citizens if U.S. hits Syria (Daily Caller) As Congress debates whether to support President Obama’s call for a limited strike against Syria for the alleged use of chemical weapons, Iran is vowing to back Bashar al-Assad’s regime to the hilt and threatening to unleash terrorism should the U.S. strike. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Quds Forces, Wednesday told the Assembly of Experts — the body that chooses the supreme leader — that “[w]e will support Syria to the end.” And in an unprecedented statement, a...

On Saturday, the State Department secured the release of Xiyue Wang, an American graduate student who was being held prisoner in Iran for the past three years. Wang had been conducting research in Iran as part of his doctoral thesis when he was arrested in 2016 and charged with spying for the United States government.  As part of the exchange, the U.S. released Masoud Soleimani, an Iranian scientist who had been arrested and convicted last year for violating U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. According to The New York Times, U.S. officials are calling Soleimani's release a low price to pay...

Today, the United States welcomes the release of Professors Kevin King and Timothy Weeks. King, an American, and Weeks, an Australian, were professors at the American University of Afghanistan when they were kidnapped at gunpoint in August 2016. Both men were successfully recovered today and are currently receiving medical care and other support from the United States Government. We pray for the full recovery of both men, who endured significant hardship during their captivity, and wish them well as they reunite with their loved ones in the near future. We thank the Afghan government for its actions, in the spirit...

Monday marks the 40th anniversary of the Iran hostage crisis. It also marks 40 consecutive years of hostage-taking and terrorism by the Islamic Republic of Iran’s agents and allies. For four decades, Western powers have regrettably but repeatedly failed to address the looming Iran threat or the belligerent regime’s underlying ideology. At present, at least 17 dual nationals are held captive by Iranian authorities, often on the flimsiest of pretenses. Although most of them have been charged with espionage or similar “national security” crimes, no justification has been offered for those charges other than the fact that their targets have...

The mother of James Foley has issued a statement thanking President Donald Trump and the troops for the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Foley was an American journalist who was kidnapped and beheaded by ISIS while covering the Syrian Civil War in 2014. JamesFoleyFoundation .@FoleyDi statement on Bagdadi's death: "I am grateful to our President and brave troops for finding ISIS leader Al-Bagdadi. I hope this will hinder the resurgence of terror groups and pray that captured ISIS fighters will be brought to trial and held accountable." JamesFoleyFoundation "I remain concerned about the dozen Americans held hostage in...

US ISIS hostage Kayla Mueller was tortured and repeatedly raped by ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi before her death in 2015. Kayla was held by ISIS for 18 months before she was killed. Other Western hostages were released by ISIS. Kayla was never released and died as an ISIS prisoner. ABC reported: Before her death earlier this year, American hostage Kayla Mueller was repeatedly raped by the top leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, according to counter-terrorism officials. Mueller’s family confirmed to ABC News that government officials have told them that their daughter, who would have turned 27 on Friday,...

FULL HEADLINE: U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller had her fingernails pulled out before being repeatedly raped by ISIS leader: Yazidi sex slave reveals torment of aid worker's harrowing final months as the secret wife of al-Baghdadi A Yazidi woman kidnapped and detained as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's personal sex slave has told how the ISIS leader repeatedly raped U.S. hostage Kayla Mueller – who he had taken as a secret bride. Speaking to MailOnline, blue-eyed Muna, 16, revealed that after his depraved jihadi cohorts ripped out Miss Mueller's finger nails, Baghdadi told her that she would become his wife 'by force' Miss...

JERUSALEM, Israel – The US military operation that resulted in the death of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was dedicated to Kayla Mueller, a young Christian woman who was kidnapped, tortured, and murdered by the Islamic State. Mueller, 26, was abducted by ISIS in August 2013 in Aleppo, Syria while serving on a humanitarian mission with Doctors Without Borders. US officials said Baghdadi tortured and repeatedly raped her at his compound before announcing in 2015 that she died in captivity. Her body has never been recovered. White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien told NBC's Meet the Press" on Sunday...

Since President Trump took office more than two-and-a-half years ago, he has touted his prowess at being able to bring U.S citizens wrongfully held abroad home – framing it as a coup the Obama administration was not able to do as effectively. Partisan politics aside – families, lawmakers and activists alike have indicated that a hardline focus on bringing Americans is yielding results. “What has changed under the Trump administration is the level of personal interest and engagement from the President. Trump has made it clear that he views the return of American hostages as a priority and regularly touts...