Free Republic

The Biden administration has already unrolled its plan to return to the 2015 nuclear deal and has begun holding quiet talks with Iran, an Israeli TV station reported Saturday. Officials for the incoming administration have also updated Israel about the conversations, Channel 12 News said. A separate report by the Israel Hayom daily said Israel, wary of Biden’s promise to return to the deal, is crafting military options to “undermine Iran’s nuclear efforts or, if need be, counter Iranian aggression, which will soon be presented to the government.” The paper also quoted Defense Minister Benny Gantz as saying: “Israel needs...

In November 2020, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hu Chun Ying, along with the foreign ministers of the three European member states, said that “The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) alone does not solve all the problems and negotiations and multilateral talks should take place in the Middle East.” The Iranian regime did not welcome the announcement. Over the past year, the Islamic Republic leaders have used all their resources to downgrade and neutralize the United States’ policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran. The regime in Iran rushed to quickly implement a 25-year strategic pact between Iran and China...

The global anti-American alliance is now on full display in the Middle East, with Iran at the lynch point. The headlines have told us about the coordination of Iranian/Iraqi/Syrian/Russian/Chinese activities, and of course there is a division of labor. That was all worked out in recent weeks in a series of Iranian visits to Moscow (General Suleimani, who commands the Revolutionjary Guards’ foreign ops, twice traveled to Russia in open defiance of existing sanctions). Basically, the Russians are sending some crack troops and their favorite heavy weapons (tanks, big guns). It goes via an Iranian air bridge and thence across...

...and refuse to be released until the US Congress rejects the Iran nuclear deal.

**SNIP** Obama breaks three decades of silence with call to Iranian president Obama began by congratulating Rouhani on his June election. He referred to the long mistrust between the two sides but said he believed the talks were already making progress. Obama Calls to Congratulate Putin As the New York Times reported earlier in the week, there are serious charges that Putin rigged the election: “A day after claiming an overwhelming victory in Russia’s presidential election, Vladimir V. Putin on Monday faced a range of challenges to his legitimacy, including charges of fraud from international observers and a defiant opposition...

Days ago into last week there were widespread rumors spreading on Mideast social media of the severe health decline of Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The persistent rumors ranged from saying he was in a coma even to some claiming his death.But Khamenei put the unfounded speculation to rest after on Wednesday morning he appeared at an event marking the first anniversary of the death of IRGC Quds Force General Qassem Soleimani. He hasn't made a public appearance in three weeks.But more importantly he emerged to give final high level backing to prior statements of Iranian leaders, most notably President...

The Trump administration has refused to allow members of President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team to meet with officials at U.S. intelligence agencies that are controlled by the Pentagon, undermining prospects for a smooth transfer of power, current and former U.S. officials said. The officials said the Biden team has not been able to engage with leaders at the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency and other military-run spy services with classified budgets and global espionage platforms. The Defense Department rejected or did not approve requests from the Biden team this week, the officials said, despite a General Services Administration...

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...

Mohsen Fahrizade, Iran's chief military nuclear scientist, has been assassinated, according to Iranian media outlets. He led the "Amad" military program which Israel alleged was researching how to build a nuclear weapon. The program reportedly ended in the early 2000s. BREAKING: Mohsen Fahrizade the architect of Iran's military nuclear program was assassinated in Tehran, Iranian media reports— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) November 27, 2020An Iranian scientist that Israel alleged led the Islamic Republic's military nuclear program before it was disbanded has been killed in a shootout, Iranian state television said.https://t.co/uCgiGMcEN0— The Associated Press (@AP) November 27, 2020As the AP reports:The semiofficial...

The Department of Defense has removed several members of its Defense Policy Board, including two former secretaries of state and a former house majority leader, Foreign Policy reports. ... Henry Kissinger, Madeleine Albright, Eric Cantor, David McCormick and Rudy de Leon were among the 11 notable advisers to be removed from the board earlier this week. ''As part of long-considered changes, we can confirm that several members of the Department’s Defense Policy Board have been removed,'' an official said.

Defense Secretary Gen. James Mattis wants to nominate a senior fellow at a Soros-funded think tank as undersecretary at the Pentagon, as the embattled Cabinet official continues to clash with the White House over prospective nominees. Politico reports that Mattis wants Rudy deLeon — a senior fellow at the far-left Center for American Progress (CAP) — to come on board as undersecretary for personnel and readiness. DeLeon previously served in the Clinton administration as deputy secretary of defense. During that time, Gen. Mattis served as his senior military assistant. DeLeon worked for Boeing as senior vice president from 2001 to...

I have one basic rule. Anytime John Brennan is upset about something, you know it’s good for the United States. As we reported earlier, “someone,” likely the Israelis, took out out Iran’s top nuclear scientist, the father of their military nuclear program, Mohsen Fakhrizadeh. First photos of the car where the assassination of Mohsen Fakhrizadeh took place today are circulating on Tabnak's Telegram account. #Iran pic.twitter.com/0iE0Aqtzwg — Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) November 27, 2020 Now at a time when there’s a possibility that Joe Biden might come in and re-up the Iran Deal and throw open the doors to all Iran’s...

Former MoveOn.Org head Karine Jean-Pierre praised lawmakers for boycotting pro-Israel confab Incoming president Joe Biden is reportedly close to selecting a vocal Israel critic to serve as his White House press secretary. Karine Jean-Pierre, a longtime campaign adviser and incoming vice president Kamala Harris's chief of staff, is currently the "top candidate" for the job, according to NBC News. Jean-Pierre was senior adviser and national spokeswoman for MoveOn.org, a far-left anti-Israel group that defends boycotts of the Jewish state, from April 2016 until August 2020, when she was hired as chief of staff for Harris. Jean-Pierre has been a vocal...

On her MSNBC show on Wednesday, anchor Andrea Mitchell repeatedly whined over the Trump administration still conducting foreign policy after the election, as if that was unusual or improper. She was particularly outraged that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was traveling to the Middle East to push an “anti-Iran” and “pro-Israel” agenda. “Also, new sanctions against Iran today, again, making it harder for the president incoming to unwind the Iran nuclear deal because there’s a lot more that he’s gonna have to figure out with Iran to even get back to square one if he wants to reset relations with...

Gordon Brown yesterday surprised commentators by refusing to rule out military action against Iran. “I firmly believe that the sanctions policy that we are pursuing will work, but I’m not one who’s going forward to say that we rule out any particular form of action,” the new British Prime Minister told a news conference. While Brown had previously seemed to follow his European partners France and Germany by playing down the idea of using force against Tehran, his line on Iran yesterday was compatible with the more hawkish position of President Bush. What are we to make of these maneuvers?...

President Donald Trump asked senior advisers last Thursday about potential options for attacking Iran's main nuclear site, US media report. The advisers warned him that military action could spark a broader conflict, officials were cited as saying. The White House has not commented on the accounts of the meeting. It took place a day after the global nuclear watchdog said Iran's enriched uranium stockpile was 12 times what was permitted under a 2015 nuclear deal. The landmark accord saw the US and five other world powers give Iran relief from crippling economic sanctions in return for limits on sensitive activities...

The Biden campaign over Halloween weekend released a list of bundlers who have raised at least $100,000 for the campaign, and the list includes the head of pro-Iranian organizations that Republican senators say should be investigated as foreign lobbyist groups. The list of campaign bundlers included Jamal Abdi, who is the president of the D.C.-based National Iranian American Council (NIAC) and executive director of its sister organization, NIAC Action. NIAC describes itself on its website as “a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 2002 to give voice to the Iranian-American community.” The group worked to get the Joint Comprehensive Plan of...

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.

Iran's Visual Media Institute in collaboration with the American-Canadian company Reel Knights Productions are producing the movie "Airbus"; a movie about the Iran Air Flight 655 , which was shot down by the U.S.S. Vincennes over the Persian Gulf on July 3, 1988.

Lebanese national Nizar Zakka, who spent years in Iranian captivity, called out presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden: "You left us behind in Iran," he said in a tweet. Zakka was held prisoner by the Islamic Republic "from 2015 to 2019 on charges he spied for the United States," according to the Washington Free Beacon. Biden in a July 12 tweet spoke out about Egypt's release of medical student Mohamed Amashah after he was held for more than one year: "Mohamed Amashah is finally home after 486 days in Egyptian prison for holding a protest sign. Arresting, torturing, and exiling...