Free Republic

No one would claim that the Iran War has been a political godsend for President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. But some Israel-First conservatives are willing to say—and lately have been incessantly saying—that the Iran War hasn’t been a political scourge. Those Israel-First conservatives are wrong, even if the devil is, at least partly, hidden in the details. The Iran War has damaged Trump’s approval ratings, consumed his presidency, and darkened the GOP’s prospects in the upcoming midterm elections. A chief proponent of the argument that Trump hasn’t suffered all that much from the Iran War is Ben Shapiro...

As their midterm picture darkens, and gas and diesel prices soar, some Republicans who backed the war for months are now changing their tune. As President Trump warned in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in recent days that he might “annihilate” Iran, a growing number of Republicans were scrambling to find distance from a costly war that has swelled into a midterm crisis for the party.The split screen showed how Mr. Trump and his party’s battleground candidates are increasingly at odds as the November elections approach. With no clear resolution in sight, the war has sent the...

The Trump administration is proposing investing $5 billion in a fund that would help Middle East countries rebuild their energy infrastructure following the Iran War, the Wall Street Journal reported.The goal would be to have the countries reduce their reliance on the Strait of Hormuz for transporting oil and gas, the Journal reported. The U.S. would seek matching contributions from eight Middle Eastern countries: Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, and Jordan, hoping to establish a $10 billion investment fund. The investment would be called the Partnership for Allied Trust and Construction, or Pact. Officials told...

New photos obtained exclusively by CBS News reveal for the first time the widespread damage and destruction of buildings and vehicles at multiple U.S. positions across the Middle East, as a result of Iranian missile and drone attacks. The Defense Department's inspector general this week released a fresh report on the war in Iran that revealed "equipment losses" worth up to $3.7 billion — including nearly 60 aircraft. In a first-of-its-kind mandatory report to Congress, the inspector general added that U.S. Central Command reported Iranian strikes at U.S. bases in Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Oman and Jordan.

Nicotine-pouch salesman and onetime conservative pundit Tucker Carlson has all but endorsed lefty Michigan Senate hopeful Dr. Abdul El-Sayed while defending his controversial comments about 9/11.Carlson, 57, who recently fawned over disgraced Democratic former first son Hunter Biden, last week ripped into El-Sayed’s Republican foe, Mike Rogers, for his track record on national security issues and urged the “good people of Michigan keep this man far away from Washington.” “El-Sayed did not celebrate airplane hijackings or cheerlead Al-Qaeda; he simply said that the U.S. conducting terrorism of its own in response to 9/11 was not exactly an appropriate reaction. He...

US President Donald Trump said he did not regret going to war against Iran despite the impact the conflict may have on the November US midterm elections. "I don't believe in the word 'regret.' You can always question yourself a little bit," Trump said in an interview with Fox News host Laura Ingraham when asked if he regretted the Iran war due to the impact it may have on the elections. "If I had it do again, I would do exactly as I did," Trump said in the interview broadcast on Thursday on The Ingraham Angle show. Trump dismissed suggestions...

Top White ⁠House ⁠advisers, including Vice ⁠President JD Vance and Secretary ​of State Marco Rubio, have privately warned ‌President Donald Trump that ‌the conflict with Iran could ⁠extend ⁠through the remainder of his presidency, the Wall ​Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing U.S. officials. The White House did not immediately ​respond to a Reuters request for comment. The ⁠advisers ⁠told Trump in private ⁠discussions ​in the Oval Office and the Situation ​Room that ⁠Tehran could continue to resist U.S. pressure, potentially prolonging the conflict beyond Inauguration Day in January 2029, the ⁠Journal added. The reported warning contrasts with Trump's own...

Vice-president JD Vance appeared to partially row back on Donald Trump’s outlandish claims that every adult citizen in the US would receive $5,000 if the Republicans retain the House and Senate in the midterm elections. “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000,” Trump told a roaring crowd, during a nearly two-hour long speech at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas in which he also urged voters to “pretend that I’m on the ballot”. But Vance, speaking after the president, suggested the so-called dividend payments would not go to the wealthy and that it could be...

The U.S. military is experiencing a “beyond critical” shortage of advanced missile interceptors in Europe largely driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran, a U.S. defense official in Europe and a NATO official told The Associated Press, raising concerns about vulnerabilities in NATO countries to a potential Russian attack. The U.S. defense official said the most concerning shortfall involves Patriot missile interceptors, which can shoot down Russia’s high-speed ballistic missiles. The NATO official confirmed the low inventories of Patriots among American and NATO forces in Europe. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military matters. In the...

President Trump claimed Wednesday that the US has complete control of the Strait of Hormuz, one day after Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed increasing oil exports from the crucial waterway as Iran’s economy continues to free fall. “The U.S.A. has total control over the Strait of Hormuz. I THINK WE WILL KEEP IT!” Trump proclaimed on Truth Social. “Our Naval Blockade is being called, by everyone, ‘A WALL OF STEEL,’ and there is nothing Iran can do about it,” he added. ***“On Sunday alone, over 20 million barrels left the Arabian gulf region, which is above the pre-conflict average.” Only...

President Trump halted new US strikes on Iran as he weighs whether Tehran is ready to cut a deal — while a wider regional war appears to be spreading into another critical shipping corridor. After 13 consecutive days of attacks, Trump instructed the US military to pause any additional strikes against Iran Friday, Axios reported Saturday, which cited two people familiar with the decision. But the president has made clear that the temporary halt does not mean Washington is backing down. In a brief phone interview with France’s LCI news, Trump said he was still prepared to restart a major...

A week after Iran killed American troops in Jordan, crossing President Donald Trump's red line for restarting all-out war, the U.S. military didn't launch airstrikes on the regime.Friday came and went without an announcement from U.S. Central Command about a new attack, breaking a nearly two-week streak.Sources told Axios that Trump received plans from the military yesterday to conduct strikes in Iran but didn't give a green light and instead ordered them to hold off.U.S. forces are still preparing for major combat operations to potentially resume, but Trump hasn't issued orders to move in that direction, the report added.The White...

ISTANBUL—The conflict between the U.S. and Iran is escalating just as the two warring parties are running up against the limits of what they can achieve through military force.The conflict widened this week after Iranian-allied militants in Yemen began striking ships transiting a key Red Sea chokepoint, helping drive oil prices above $100 a barrel for the first time in two months on Thursday.The U.S., meanwhile, has escalated its bombing campaign in Iran in recent days, striking throughout the country during the most intense period of fighting since President Trump and Israel began bombing Iran in late February.Trump and other...

As President Trump threatens a major escalation in Iran, signs are mounting that the U.S. military is preparing for a potential return to major military operations. But experts are skeptical that an intensified air strike campaign — even if it takes out bridges, water facilities and electricity plants — will break Tehran or force tough concessions at the negotiating table. "I don't think it will change Iran's calculation in any way, because from Iran's perspective, this is when they said it publicly, that this is a war of survival for them. So bombing from the air is not going to...

Russia has a question for the European countries that have shunned its energy exports: Do you miss us now? The Kremlin is enjoying a sudden resurgence of its importance as a global supplier of oil and gas, as the conflict in Iran disrupts energy production and shipment across the Middle East and sends global energy prices soaring. “Now other markets are opening up, and perhaps it’s more advantageous for us to stop supplying the European market right now,” Mr. Putin said on Wednesday to a state television reporter, Pavel Zarubin, who chronicles the Russian leader. “We are seeing an increase...

Donald Trump has sparked fresh outrage in the UK after saying Nato troops stayed "a little off the front lines" during the war in Afghanistan. Labour MP Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, called it an "absolute insult" to the 457 British service personnel killed in the conflict, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: "How dare he question their sacrifice?" Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, said it was "sad to see our nation's sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply". The UK was among several allies to join the...