Free Republic

In response to former President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from his predecessor Barack Obama’s 2015 Iran nuclear deal, then-presidential candidate Joe Biden announced that, if elected, he would reenter the deal and “work with our allies to make it longer and stronger.” This, Biden claimed, would curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and moderate its malign behavior. He was and is wrong. The mere fact that Biden claimed to be seeking a “longer and stronger” deal puts the lie to Obama and his Secretary of State John Kerry’s repeated claims that the 2015 deal blocked all paths to an Iranian nuclear weapon. In...

The foreign ministers of countries under Iran’s guns seemed more intent on cooperation among themselves than on backing America’s pursuit of reviving a failed nuclear deal. Beefed up military and intelligence cooperation among regional allies to confront Iran is the most positive outcome of the Negev summit — even as America inexplicably remains determined to appease the mullahs. Foreign ministers of Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco, and Egypt today ended a summit hastily organized by Israel’s foreign minister, Yair Lapid, at the Negev town of Sde Boker. They decided to boost security cooperation and vowed to meet periodically in...

For decades, foreign policy experts—the blob—assumed much about the Middle East that has turned out to be completely wrong. It’s been remarkable to watch the mainstream press and official Washington try to downplay the significance of the peace deal the Trump administration brokered between Israel and two Arab states this week.The signing of the Abraham Accords on Tuesday between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain at the White House, which for the first time normalized relations between Israel and the two Persian Gulf states, is by any measure historic. It’s been 26 years since any Arab state recognized Israel,...

France and Russia have a shared desire to safeguard Iran's nuclear deal, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday. Macron said in a statement he had a phone call on Sunday with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Leaders of Britain, France and Germany on Sunday called on Iran to return to full compliance with a 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and refrain from further violence.

Debate within the United States over the correct policy for dealing with the Islamic Republic of Iran has long been centered on the idea of a dichotomy between engagement and war. Defenders of the status quo continue to suggest that in order to avoid armed conflict, we must turn a blind eye to the theocratic regime’s domestic repression and its propensity for mischief-making beyond Iran’s borders. Starting with that assumption, anyone who recommends a decisive alternative policy is painted as a warmonger.But this is a false narrative, which serves the interests of the Iranian regime and has roots in its...

President Donald Trump's freewheeling style is one of the main reasons that Americans rejected the conventional candidates and instead elected him to serve as president of the United States. While he is undeniably entertaining and possesses personal magnetism that helped make him a business tycoon and television star, when it comes to his leadership concerning Iran, the stakes are too high for Trump to act as if he is performing in a reality TV show. Iran is the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism. The Islamic Republic's dangerous tentacles reach worldwide, where it provides support to violent terrorist groups. The...

Full title: 9 Times The Obama Administration Fought Subpoenas or Blocked Officials from Testifying Before Congress After the long and thorough, and, of course, incredibly expensive Mueller investigation, Democrats were left distraught over a lack of any crime to justify going forward with impeachment. In the wake of the Mueller report, they’ve since promised new investigations in the hopes of finding some crime to justify putting the country through a process that most don’t want us to go through just because Democrats haven’t gotten over the 2016 election. In recent weeks, stories about subpoenas being challenged and Trump officials being...

Vindication for President Trump What Was the FBI Telling and Paying Anti-Trump Dossier Author Steele? Judicial Watch Sues for Collusion Docs Between Obama FBI and Clinton-DNC Lawyers Good News for all Land Owners from the Supreme Court Digging Into John Kerry’s ‘Shadow Diplomacy’ Over Iran Nuclear Deal Happy Easter! Vindication for President Trump President Trump has been vindicated. The Mueller investigation failed to find any evidence to support the big lie that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government and failed miserably to prove any obstruction. We’re pleased that Attorney General Barr saw through the 448-page smear of...

"President Donald Trump’s second address to the United Nations reiterated the same point he made last year: His America is a sovereign one, and every nation is on its own. “America is governed by Americans,” he said to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday in one his highest-profile speeches of the year. “We reject the ideology of globalism and accept the doctrine of patriotism.” He also used the opportunity to breeze through America’s national security concerns, such as nuclear talks with North Korea, tensions with Iran, and his trade war with China. But the speech amounted to little more than...

ANKARA (Reuters) - Iran’s foreign minister said on Thursday U.S. demands to change its 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers were unacceptable as a deadline set by President Donald Trump for Europeans to “fix” the deal loomed. [snip]“Iran will not renegotiate what was agreed years ago and has been implemented,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said in a video message posted on YouTube.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is offering his advice in the escalating feud between President Donald Trump and Republican Sen. Bob Corker: “Talk it out among yourselves.” The Wisconsin Republican was questioned Wednesday about the war of words as Trump erroneously blamed Corker for the Iran nuclear deal and dismissed him as “liddle” Corker. […] Ryan also was asked about former Republican congressman Michael Grimm […] Ryan said: “I support Dan Donovan.” …

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is offering support to Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) amid a war of words between the latter and President Trump. "Sen. Corker is a valuable member of the Senate Republican caucus and he’s also on the Budget committee and a particularly important player as we move to the floor on the budget next week and he’s an important part of our team,” McConnell said Monday in Kentucky, according to the Associated Press. Asked about whether he agreed with Corker's criticism of Trump, McConnell sidestepped, adding: "[Corker is] an important part of our team and he's...

WASHINGTON — Senator Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, charged in an interview on Sunday that President Trump was treating his office like “a reality show,” with reckless threats toward other countries that could set the nation “on the path to World War III.”In an extraordinary rebuke of a president of his own party, Mr. Corker said he was alarmed about a president who acts “like he’s doing ‘The Apprentice’ or something.”“He concerns me,” Mr. Corker added. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”Mr. Corker’s comments capped a remarkable day of...

A holdover from the Obama administration who helped broker the Iran nuclear deal continues to work in the Trump State Department as a member of the “policy planning staff,” according to her biography on the agency website. “Prior to joining the Policy Planning Staff, she served as a Director for Iran and Iran Nuclear Implementation on the National Security Council Staff from 2014-2016,” Sahar Nowrouzzadeh’s bio states. “Sahar also previously served as a Foreign Affairs Officer at the U.S. Department of State and a Team Chief and Senior Analyst at the Department of Defense.” In an October 2016, Nowrouzzadeh was...

The Obama administration has paid Iran more than $10 billion in gold, cash, and other assets since 2013, according to Iranian officials, who disclosed that the White House has been intentionally deflating the total amount paid to the Islamic Republic. Senior Iranian officials late last week confirmed reports that the total amount of money paid to Iran over the past four years is in excess of $10 billion, a figure that runs counter to official estimates provided by the White House. The latest disclosure by Iran, which comports with previous claims about the Obama administration obfuscating details about its cash...

The election of Donald Trump has led to unease in the Middle East over threats to peace in the region and any war would lead to the destruction of Israel and the Gulf states, Iran’s Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan warned Sunday. His remarks came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said earlier Sunday that he would work with Trump to dismantle the nuclear agreement with Iran, signed last year over Israel’s fierce criticism of the pact. Trump said during the campaign he would tear up the nuclear deal, calling it a “disastrous” and one of the worst agreements in history...

Over the weekend the Iranian regime executed Shahram Amiri, an Iranian nuclear scientist convicted of spying on behalf of the United States.  Iran executed a nuclear scientist convicted of spying for the United States, an official said Sunday, acknowledging for the first time that the nation secretly detained and tried a man who was once heralded as a hero. Shahram Amiri defected to the U.S. at the height of Western efforts to thwart Iran's nuclear program. When he returned in 2010, he was welcomed with flowers by government leaders and even went on the Iranian talk-show circuit. Then he mysteriously...

Lawmakers want company to stay away from terror regimeMembers of Congress have summoned the heads of airplane giant Boeing to a meeting to encourage the company to stop spearheading efforts to reenter the Iranian marketplace, a business pursuit that is jointly backed by the Obama administration, according to a letter sent Friday to Boeing leadership and obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.Boeing, like its French rival AirBus, has been working to woo the Iranian government following last summer’s comprehensive nuclear agreement.Officials at Boeing—a top U.S. government contractor—opened discussions with Iran last month. The company is hoping to sell its aircraft...

Iranian officials on Monday accused the United States of violating the recent comprehensive nuclear agreement by working behind the scenes to stop American companies from conducting business with Iran, according to regional media reports. Iran has been complaining for months that it is not being granted enough sanctions relief under the agreement. These complaints have reportedly pushed the Obama administration to consider offering Iran greater concessions, including access to the U.S. dollar and American financial markets.

The Israel Project's Omri Ceren sent around an email this afternoon reporting that Congress is looking into whether Obama administration officials lied to Congress in their testimony about the Iran deal last summer, or whether they have just totally bowed to Iran. Last week reporters confirmed that the Obama administration has reversed itself on a number of commitments made to Congress during last summer's push to get support for the Iran deal. Specifically the AP confirmed that the administration intends to give Iran indirect access the U.S. financial system and Reuters confirmed that Washington is no longer labeling Iranian...