Free Republic

A notorious Kurdish gangster has fled Turkey to avoid extradition on drug-trafficking charges, a Swedish prosecutor has told The National. Rawa Majid, 39, known as the Kurdish Fox, had been living in Turkey, where his citizenship protected him from being extradited to Sweden, and was widely accused of playing a major part in gang violence. Authorities had hoped Majid’s prosecution on forgery charges would result in his citizenship being revoked, allowing his return to Sweden. But Henrik Soderman, who submitted the first extradition request to Turkey, has now confirmed that Majid, who leads the Foxtrot Network of criminals, is no...

The head of one of Sweden's biggest crime organizations, accused of instigating a surge in violent crime, has been arrested more than 1,600 miles away in Turkey, Swedish police said on Friday. Police did not identify the man by name but Swedish media named him as 35-year-old Ismail Abdo, head of the Rumba crime organization and alleged to have been orchestrating operations from abroad. Abdo is one of Sweden's most wanted criminals and the subject of an international arrest warrant since 2024. The Scandinavian country, once known for its low crime rates, has struggled for years to rein in organized...

Three explosions rocked the Swedish capital of Stockholm over just a four-day period as the country is coming off a record year for gang-related bombings. After a few months of relative calm, gang wars in the Nordic nation once again appear to be on the rise, as three explosions at residential buildings in Stockholm have been seen since Friday when a large blast went off at an apartment in Sundbyberg where a man with ties to a criminal gang lives. This was followed by an explosion on Saturday outside a hair salon in the industrial area of Vällingby. Finally, on...

BLOUNT COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) - A man was arrested in Locust Fork on Sunday, June 22, by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Atlanta. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of Public Affairs, Ribvar Karimi reportedly served as an Iranian Army sniper from 2018 to 2021. They say at the time of Karimi’s arrest, he had an Islamic Republic of Iran Army identification card. DHS says Karimi entered the United States on a K-1 visa in October 2024. According to DHS, a K-1 visa is “reserved for aliens engaged to be married to American citizens.” Karimi reportedly never...

Prior to President Donald Trump authorizing targeted strikes against Iranian nuclear sites on Saturday, federal agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers have been arresting Iranian nationals, nearly all men, in the U.S. illegally. In the last few months, federal prosecutors have also brought terrorism charges against Iranians, including those in the U.S. working for the Iranian government. Iran is a designated state sponsor of terrorism. Iranian nationals illegally in the country are considered “special interest aliens” under federal law. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Sunday issued a warning to all Americans to be on a heightened...

The Emirati newspaper the National reported on Thursday, citing anonymous sources within the terrorist organization, that Hezbollah is not planning to aid Iran in its ongoing conflict with Israel despite its deep ties and financial reliance on Tehran. Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based terrorist organization that functions as a highly influential political party in that country. It has collaborated with, and benefited financially from, the Iranian Shiite regime for decades. The State Department estimated in 2020 that Hezbollah was receiving $700 million a year in Iranian largesse to conduct terrorist activity. In addition to engaging in terrorist activity in the Middle...

Iran-based cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has reportedly suffered a major security breach, resulting in the theft of over $81 million in digital assets by a hacker group claiming ties to Israel. CoinTelegraph reports that the Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex has fallen victim to a devastating hack, resulting in the loss of more than $81 million in digital assets. The attack, disclosed in a Telegram post on Wednesday, drained funds across the Tron network and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible blockchains. According to noted crypto investigator ZachXBT, the attackers exploited the protocol using “vanity addresses,” which led to suspicious outflows from multiple Nobitex-linked...

President Donald Trump announced, “We now have complete and total control” of Iranian airspace and that the U.S. knows “exactly where” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei “is hiding.” Trump’s announcements came in a string of Truth Social posts. “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran. Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff,'” Trump wrote. “Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA,” he added. Trump then said the United States knows where Khamenei is located.

Armaros wrote, "This is it. As the evidence grew about Iran building bombs and warheads, Obama's team must have shown divisions. Thus he removes the eyes who saw, Ross, (who is a Clintonian) and replaces him with an Iran regime lobbyist. The Iran lobby, the NIAC, is a regime presence within the USA. Led by a famous Brzezinski-endorsed Iranian antisemite who blames Israel for Iran-US tensions and denies Ahmadinejad said "wipe off the map". Basically Obama has handed over the Iran negotiations to an Iranian regime agency. This is grotesque and shows Obama's determination to avoid confronting Iran at all...

("an analyst told CNN." CNN, June 15, 2025 https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-strikes-news-06-15-25) _______ CAMERA Special Report: The National Iranian American Council; Tehran’s Best Friend in Washington. By: Sean Durns November 24, 2015. [...] Parsi’s dissertation on Israeli-Iranian relations served as the basis for his book Treacherous Alliance (2008, Yale University Press). Parsi is a resident alien, with Swedish and Iranian passports, not an American citizen, although he runs an organization that claims to represent Iranian-Americans... Upon coming to the United States in 2001, Parsi worked as a managing director for Hooshang Amirhadmadi of the American Iranian Council (AIC) while completing graduate study. Parsi...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended warm birthday wishes to President Donald Trump, hailing him as an “extraordinary leader” and a steadfast ally to Israel, while delivering a forceful address that underscored the growing pressure on Iran’s leadership, stressing that Israel believes “senior leaders” in the regime are already “packing their bags” as Israel intensifies its military operations. On Saturday, in an official statement, Netanyahu highlighted the urgent need for Israel’s ongoing military actions, emphasizing the threat posed by Iran’s leadership. He praised the unwavering support of President Trump, stating, “What you’re doing now, helping protect Israeli lives against the...

Iranian opposition group NCRI has unveiled explosive new evidence alleging that Iran’s nuclear weapons program has resumed under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, representing a serious escalation with far-reaching implications for global stability and regional security. In a Tuesday press conference, Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI)’s Washington Office, detailed findings from the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), exposing Iran’s clandestine Kavir Plan — a covert nuclear weapons program disguised as satellite-launching missile research. The plan allegedly involves multiple secret facilities concentrated in Semnan Province, a vast desert...

A federal complaint unsealed on Tuesday in Brooklyn has charged Asif Merchant, also known as “Asif Raza Merchant,” a 46-year-old Pakistani national, with murder-for-hire in connection with a foiled assassination plot targeting a politician or U.S. government officials on American soil. The plot was thwarted by law enforcement before any attack could be executed. Merchant is currently in federal custody in New York, according to the press release. FBI investigators believe that the intended targets of the plot included Trump and other current and former U.S. government officials, according to a U.S. official briefed on the matter, per CNN. According...

A Pakistani citizen residing in Canada, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, 20, also known as Shahzeb Jadoon, was arrested on Sept. 4 in Canada in connection with a complaint filed in the Southern District of New York. Khan was charged with attempting to provide material support and resources to a designated foreign terrorist organization (FTO), the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). “The defendant is alleged to have planned a terrorist attack in New York City around October 7th of this year with the stated goal of slaughtering, in the name of ISIS, as many Jewish people as possible,” said Attorney...

ALBAWABA - Two people were slightly injured after a missile was fired from Yemen targeting Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv on Sunday morning, Israeli media confirmed. Israel's The Jerusalem Post mentioned that a Houthi missile crashed in the area of Ben-Gurion Airport's Terminal 3 on Sunday morning after the Israeli defense forces failed to intercept it. Siren sounds were heard after the missile from Yemen, the IDF revealed on Sunday morning. The army attempted several times to intercept the missile, but it fell in the area of Ben Gurion Airport.

The Iranian establishment — the officials and business leaders who exert the most influence — has reportedly had enough of the radicalism of the current regime and is looking to replace it with a less confrontational, albeit still Islamic, model. That is the analysis of an expert interviewed by the UK Telegraph, which notes that Iranian leaders are quietly taking stock of the regime’s defeats in the region and concluding that constant fights against the West are not a good idea.

The Israeli Air Force (IAF) forced an Iranian cargo plane full of weapons for Hezbollah to turn around mid-flight on Sunday after intercepting it in Syrian airspace, according to media reports. The Times of Israel reported: An Iranian flight suspected to be ferrying arms to the Hezbollah terror group in Lebanon was blocked by the Israeli Air Force over Syria overnight between Saturday and Sunday, The Times of Israel has learned. IAF fighter jets intercepted the Iranian plane over Syria and ordered it to turn around, and it did a short while later, a defense source said. … The interception...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu published a video address aimed at the Iranian people on Tuesday, urging them to stand up for freedom against a regime that, he says, wastes their money on “wars that can’t be won.” It was the second video he has published this year addressing ordinary Iranians and appealing to a hope for peace. In his speech, Netanyahu used the “Woman, Life, Freedom” slogan that has become popular among dissidents and opponents of the regime abroad, and which refers to a protest movement that began in Iran two years ago with the death in detention of...

President-elect Donald Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday, according to the Prime Minister’s Office. As Breitbart News reported earlier Wednesday, Netanyahu was among the first world leaders to congratulate Trump after his massive victory, which surprised pollsters in the United States and international observers alike. Later in the day, the two spoke by telephone. The Prime Minister’s Office provided the following readout (which it translated from Hebrew): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Wednesday, 6 November 2024), spoke with US President-elect Donald Trump and was among the first to call him. Their conversation was warm and...

Nürtingen, Germany – A chilling discovery along the Neckar River has intensified the debate over Germany’s open borders and the dangers citizens face under these policies. A 37-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, who reportedly knew the victim personally, was arrested on suspicion of brutally murdering a 66-year-old German teacher, Isabelle D. The crime, which has left the community shaken, is fueling criticism of Germany’s lenient immigration system, which critics argue allows dangerous individuals to enter and remain unchecked. ... The body of Isabelle D., a dedicated and well-known German language teacher, was found early Sunday morning beneath a viewing platform along...