Free Republic

Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei emerged from exile Thursday to claim victory over Israel and said his country had “delivered a hand slap to America’s face” in his first public comments since a ceasefire was declared in the war between the two countries. AP reports Khamenei spoke in a video broadcast on Iranian state television, his first public appearance since June 19 and aside from his sweeping claims on social media. Viewers were told the U.S. had only intervened in the war because “it felt that if it did not intervene, the Zionist regime would be utterly destroyed.”...

GENEVA (AP) – Iran´s foreign minister arrived Friday for talks with top European diplomats in Geneva about the crisis that centers on concerns about his country´s nuclear program, a week after the long-simmering dispute erupted into war between Israel and Iran. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi arrived at a hotel in the Swiss city for a meeting with his counterparts from France, Germany and the U.K. and the European Union´s foreign policy chief. It is the first face-to-face meeting between Western and Iranian officials since the start of the conflict.

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) published footage Monday of an Israeli Air Force (IAF) drone destroying two American F-14s that were sold to Iran before the Islamic Revolution in 1979. They were on the ground. The Times of Israel reported: An Israeli Air Force drone struck and destroyed two Iranian F-14 fighter jets at an airport in Tehran, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin reveals in a press conference. The US-made F-14 Tomcats were supplied to Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution and are believed to be the last ones still in operation. The F-14s were among many targets hit...

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) estimated Monday that it had destroyed one-third of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers in less than four days of fighting, even if Iran was still capable of firing large barrages at Israel. In a statement, IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Effie Defrin said that Israel had destroyed 120 of the regime’s estimated 360 missile launchers across Iran. Though the Israeli government estimates that Iran still has “thousands” of ballistic missiles, it is limited in its ability to use them by the number of launchers, as well as by daylight: the Iranian military prefers not to maneuver when...

CNN host Dana Bash said Friday on “The Situation Room” that during a phone conversation, President Donald Trump said the hardline negotiators he was dealing with in Iran were killed in Israel’s military strike. Bash said, “Well, my first question, it was a very brief conversation, but my first question was about the secretary of state’s remarks last night. His statement, which you mentioned in the open to the show, which explicitly said that the U.S. was notified about the Israeli strikes shortly before they happened, certainly warned Iran not to retaliate against U.S. assets. But the boilerplate language that...

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei launched a blistering verbal assault on the United States and President Donald Trump during a nationally televised speech, calling Trump a liar who brings shame on the American people, as the regime’s signature chant “Death to America” rang out repeatedly. The remarks were aired Saturday on Iran’s state-run Channel 1 and featured a crowd erupting multiple times into chants of “Death to America,” “Death to England,” and “Death to Israel,” as Khamenei accused U.S. leaders of using military power to spread war. “Some of the things the U.S. President said in his recent visit...

Iran’s so-called “Supreme Leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reportedly persuaded to talk with the Trump administration about a new nuclear deal after being told by advisers that the regime could collapse if he did not. Khamenei had previously rejected talks with Trump. But with Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions, his military action against the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, and Israel’s destruction of Iran’s air defenses last year, Khamenei’s advisers appear to have believed that the regime was on the ropes. The New York Times reported Friday: Mr. Khamenei had publicly and repeatedly banned engaging with Washington, calling it unwise...

Israel’s Army Radio reported Thursday that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) began preparing plans for Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear sites after destroying nearly 90% of Syria’s air defense capabilities, which had formerly protected Iran. Army Radio military correspondent Doron Kadosh reported on air that Israel had destroyed 86% of Syria’s surface-to-air missile capability, among 500 other sites that the IDF had targeted since the fall of the Assad regime Sunday. Kadosh elaborated, in a post on X, that Israel had used 1800 munitions in the attack on Syrian weapons — munitions that had been intended for other purposes, but...

Axios reported Friday that Israel did, in fact, hit Iranian nuclear facilities in its response last month to Iran’s ballistic missile attack, confirming reporting by Breitbart News based on a theory first floated by Israeli columnist Caroline Glick. As Breitbart News reported in October: [Glick] noted that Israel hit Parchin, a secret Iranian military base that has long been a suspected site for Iran’s nuclear program. Media reports suggest that the target at Parchin was “a building that was part of Iran’s defunct nuclear weapons development program, and … facilities used to mix solid fuel for missiles.” But the program...

“The notion that the $100 billion which Iran will obtain ‘is going to make all the difference in the world is just – it’s not true,'” Kerry said. No, but it is going to make some difference. It is going to cost people’s lives. As will this entire disastrous agreement with Iran. “Kerry Dismisses Iran’s Financial Support for Hezbollah, Other Terror Groups,” by Patrick Goodenough, CNS News, July 15, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace): (CNSNews.com) – Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday played down concerns that Iran will use the windfall from sanctions relief under the nuclear...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland (Reuters) - A framework was reached at marathon talks on Iran's nuclear programme in Switzerland that will allow further negotiations towards a final agreement, Germany and Iran said, although it was not clear what details would be made public. Western and Iranian officials at the talks said they would conclude with a joint statement announcing that enough progress had been reached to allow further negotiations until a final deadline of June 30. "Agreement on framework for final agreement reached. Press conference following," Germany's foreign ministry said on Twitter.

In yet another deplorable display of betrayal, the Obama administration belatedly acknowledged that it is withholding information from Israel pertaining to the P5 + 1 talks with Iran. The administration’s shocking announcement followed initial denials by both the State Department and the White House that they were engaged in this type of duplicitous conduct against a strategic ally. Fearing fallout from the revelation, the White House claimed it acted to prevent the Israelis from leaking “cherry-pick[ed]” information and failing to properly contextualize. The revelation demonstrates three unwavering facts. First, the White House has probably already caved in to nearly all...

In what will be the highest-level talks between the United States and Iran since the 1979 revolution, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with Iran's foreign minister on Thursday, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes has confirmed. Kerry and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will join their counterparts from the six major powers that are negotiating to contain Iran's nuclear policy, reported USA Today. "We welcome Iran engaging seriously through that process given that it represents the international community's commitment to holding Iran accountable, but also being open to a diplomatic resolution," Rhodes said. The meeting was initially...

Moscow - Iran's first atomic power plant, a symbol of what the Islamic Republic says is its peaceful nuclear ambition, is now operating at full capacity, Russia's state nuclear corporation Rosatom said on Friday. The Russian-built 1,000-megawatt reactor near the Gulf city of Bushehr, was plugged into Iran's national grid last September, ending years of delays and suspicions that Moscow was using the project as a diplomatic lever. Oil-rich Iran says electricity generation is the main motivation for nuclear work that its adversaries say is really aimed at getting atomic weapons capability.

An image said to come from inside an Iranian military site shows an explosives containment chamber of the type needed for nuclear arms-related tests that UN inspectors suspect Tehran has conducted at the site. Iran denies such testing and has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of such a chamber. The image was provided to The Associated Press by an official of a country tracking Iran's nuclear program who said the drawing proves the structure exists, despite Tehran's refusal to acknowledge it. The official said he could not discuss the drawing's origins beyond that it was based on information from...

Senior defense official says Iran's nuclear program not easily derailed like Iraq or Syria: "There is no one silver bullet you can hit and that's over"; claims Iranian regime's biggest fear is US. Israel would not be able to halt Iran's reported quest for atomic weapons with a single strike, a senior Israeli defense official said on Sunday. The defense official, who in line with Israeli army guidelines declined to be identified, mentioned Iran during a review of the security situation in the Middle East in a briefing to foreign reporters.

VIENNA - In an underground chamber near the Iranian city of Natanz, a network of surveillance cameras offers the outside world a rare glimpse into Iran's largest nuclear facility. The cameras were installed by U.N. inspectors to keep tabs on Iran's nuclear progress, but last year they recorded something unexpected: workers hauling away crate after crate of broken equipment. In a six-month period between late 2009 and last spring, U.N. officials watched in amazement as Iran dismantled more than 10 percent of the Natanz plant's 9,000 centrifuge machines used to enrich uranium. Then, just as remarkably, hundreds of new machines...

Nearly 76,000 Iranian Jews moved to Israel since 1948 and Immigration Ministry officials and the Knesset committee for immigration are trying to find ways to encourage the remaining 25,000 to move to the Jewish State. One major obstacle is the comfortable position of many Iranian Jews, despite their children starting school every day with the chant “Death to Israel, Death to America.” Marking International Human Rights Day, the Knesset Committee on Immigration discussed the situation with Israelis from the Turkish and Iranian Jewish communities in Israel. “I ask Jews in Iran why they stay there, and they tell me they...

The Stuxnet virus, which has attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and which Israel is suspected of creating, has set back the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program by two years, a top German computer consultant who was one of the first experts to analyze the program’s code told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday. "It will take two years for Iran to get back on track," Langer said in a telephone interview from his office in Hamburg, Germany. "This was nearly as effective as a military strike, but even better since there are no fatalities and no full-blown war."